Panel to probe misuse of tourist centre funds in Gurdaspur's wetland Keshopur Chhamb

Ravi Dhaliwal

Gurdaspur, June 15

Gurdaspur Deputy Commissioner Himanshu Aggarwal has constituted a fact-finding committee to look into the alleged misappropriation of funds in construction of the Tourist Interpretation Centre (TIC) in one of the country’s biggest wetlands-Keshopur Chhamb.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) had given a grant of Rs 8 crore to the Punjab Tourism Department.

In 2016, work at the first phase of the TIC suddenly came to a halt. Rules envisaged that the structure should have been handed over to the Wildlife Department in 2016 itself, but this was not done. In January 2018, the department took possession.

Sachin Pathak, General Assistant to the DC, will be heading the probe. Executive Engineer (Panchayati Raj) and Gurdaspur BDPO are its other members and have been asked to submit the report to the DC within three weeks.

Like Gurdaspur’s Circuit House, this building too has turned out to be a classic example of how public funds were misused by the government functionaries.

An official said, “The TIC has been rendered a white elephant with nobody knowing what to do about it. Let us hope the committee comes up with something concrete and does not turn out to be a group of people who keep minutes but lose hours.” He added, “Some official files are sure to go missing now.”

The TIC, had it been fully constructed, was meant to facilitate ornithologists and amateur bird watchers to study migratory birds. It was to come up in two phases and was to be equipped with the latest equipment.

The first phase was constructed at a cost of Rs 4 crore while the second phase failed to come up. This meant the “half-baked” building could never be put to use. The DC visited the wetland last week when he was told about the neglect of the TIC.

The consensus among officials is that the “TIC is a perfect example of blatant corrupt practices being swept under the carpet for seven long years.”