Goa study tour back on Chandigarh councillors’ itinerary

Tribune News Service

Sandeep Rana

Chandigarh, June 13

While the dust is yet to settle over the opening a new waste processing plant at the Dadu Majra dumping ground, Municipal Corporation councillors are set to fly off on a “study” tour of a processing plant at Goa. They are expected to leave this month-end.

Study tours have remained under a cloud in the past with questions being raised over their utility and productivity. Last year, too, the councillors had planned a tour of Goa and Mumbai, but the UT Administrator and Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit had shot down the proposal and changed the locations to Indore and Nagpur.

Indore was chosen as it had been acing the national cleanliness rankings and Nagpur for the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), a pioneer in the field of waste management and water bodies’ rejuvenation. A total of 21 councillors from all political parties had been part of the tour last year.

Now, the Administrator has suggested that the councillors should visit Goa, where a garbage processing plant has been set up under the guidance of NEERI, which is also involved in the upcoming plant in Chandigarh. The plan has been chalked out. Each year, the MC sets aside Rs 50 lakh for study tours.

Mayor Anup Gupta told Chandigarh Tribune: “We are planning a study tour of Goa this month-end. These visits are result-oriented. Last year, we visited NEERI, Nagpur, where the civic body signed an MoU with the premier institute. Now that a new plant is planned in the city, we are going to visit the Goa plant, in which NEERI has had a major role to play.”

Criticising the move, Mahila Congress president Deepa Dubey today wrote to Purohit, saying: “Every year, lakhs of rupees are spent by the corporation on taking councillors on study tours. But do they really bring new schemes to their area or just end up misusing the money paid by taxpayers in the city? Instead of councillors, area residents who suffer from ailments caused by garbage at the dumping ground and learned individuals should be shown the Goa plant.”

Hitesh Puri, chairman, Chandigarh Residents Association Welfare Federation (CRAWFED), said: “Councillors should present utilisation report after each study tour. They should let public know what had transpired during the visit. Also, family members shouldn’t be allowed to tag along even though they bear their own expenses. Besides being a distraction, their presence makes it a recreational tour.”

Baljinder Singh Bittu, chairman, Federation of Sectors Welfare Association Chandigarh (FOSWAC), said: “Councillors don’t have technical know-how. Public doesn’t deserve to see a mountain of garbage. When Rs 400 crore is to be spent on a processing plant, the responsibility should fall on the person floating the tender.”

Questions raised in past over utility

Study tours have remained under a cloud in the past with questions being raised over their utility and productivity. Last year, councillors planned a tour of Goa and Mumbai, but UT Administrator Banwarilal Purohit changed locations to Indore and Nagpur.

Previous visits & cost incurred

2022: 21 councillors & two-three officials visit Indore’s biomethanation plant and Nagpur’s NEERI; cost Rs 14 Lakh

2019: Five-day tour of Leh to pay obeisance at Gurdwara Pathar Sahib cost public exchequer Rs 10 Lakh

2017: Visit by 32 councillors, officers to Mumbai, Pune & Vizag to study sanitation and water supply; cost Rs 18 Lakh

2014: Nine-day tour by 39, including 19 councillors & kin, to Chennai, Port Blair & Kolkata to study projects; cost Rs 28.50 Lakh

2013: Six councillors and three officers visit Delhi to study water supply. Also, then Mayor, then commissioner and then XEN visit Israel; cost Rs 7 LAKH

2010: 14 councillors, two officials visit Kolkata and Gangtok to study roads, horticulture, etc; cost Rs 16 Lakh

2007: 18 councillors, two officials visit Singapore and Bangkok; cost Rs 15 lakh

Result-oriented trips

These visits are result-oriented. A new plant is planned in the city, so we are going to visit the Goa plant, in which NEERI, Nagpur, has had a major role to play — Anup Gupta, Mayor

Let those hit by dump go

Lakhs are spent on study tours. Instead of councillors, residents who suffer from ailments caused by dumping ground and learned individuals should visit Goa plant — Deepa Dubey, Mahila Cong chief

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