100 days in power: Crores spent on infra upgrade, but little headway in projects

Despite the tall claims, BJP's governance in the first 100 days of power is yet to reflect any marked change in development in the Assembly segments of the district. The party had emerged victorious in five of the six Assembly segments in the October elections.

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The city is facing the challenge of improving its position in the national-level cleanliness survey this year, but the civic conditions remain the same. From the 36th rank in the previous year, it slipped to 381 last year.

Since the authorities have yet to come up with measures regarding door-to-door waste collection in wake of the bindings of the previous contract, the disposal and processing of over 1,000 tonne of daily waste remains a challenge.

The poor disposal of civic, industrial and chemical waste has led to insanitary conditions in many parts of the city, despite the claims of spending hundreds of crores of rupees on the upgrade of infrastructure, including the setting up of Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) and projects to clean sewerage.

"Though development works began in over 70 colonies regularised last year, the pace has been sluggish and these have failed to provide any respite from overflowing sewers, broken roads and poor water supply," said Yogesh Dhingra, a former member of the civic body. Claiming that all 24 villages incorporated within the civic limits two years remained a victim of government apathy, Jaswant Yadav, a resident of Chandawali village, said there was no relief and the move had boomeranged.

The progress of the works was either lagging or not up to the mark, claimed sources. The projects include the reconstruction of Nahar Singh International Cricket Stadium; Manjhawali bridge over the Yamuna; East-West corridor; FNG Expressway to provide direct link between Faridabad, Noida and Ghaziabad; construction of a mother and child care hospital; multi-level parking facility; Badkhal Lake revival, installation of thousand CCTV cameras; removal of encroachments on green belts; and upgrade of water supply.

"Some roads built or repaired by various agencies, like the FMDA, have already started showing signs of damage, which is a cause of concern," said Varun Sheokand, who had lodged a complaint in this connection.

"While some newly elected MLAs pulled up officials and issued warnings against laxity in development works initially, there is no change on the ground," said AK Gaur, a resident.

Meanwhile, Dhanesh Adlakha, a ruling party MLA from Badkhal, claimed that the problem of blocked sewers had been resolved and development works worth Rs 37 crore had been initiated in the constituency.

Ballabhgarh MLA Mool Chand Sharma, Cabinet minister Vipul Goel and the Faridabad MLA were unavailable for comment.