Horticulture, civil wings of Karnal Municipal Corporation merged

Parveen Arora

Karnal, July 21

The horticulture and civil wings of the Karnal Municipal Corporation (KMC) have been merged after the lone Executive Engineer (XEN), Horticulture, retired last month.

The XENs and JEs have been assigned ward-wise duty for the beautification as well as the maintenance of parks. There are 180 parks across 20 wards of the city and previously, XEN (Horticulture) used to look after these. After his retirement last month, the post was lying vacant. For the past several months, residents had been raising the issue of the poor condition of parks with swings broken.

Had 180 parks under him

• XENs and JEs have been assigned ward-wise duty for the beautification as well as maintenance of parks
• There are 180 parks across 20 wards of the city and previously, XEN (Horticulture) used to look after them
• After his retirement last month, the post was lying vacant
• For the past several months, residents were raising the issue of poor condition of parks with swings broken
• With not many XENs (Horticulture) available in the state, the authorities have assigned the horticulture duties to XENs of the civil wing

Sources said with not many XENs (Horticulture) available in the state, the authorities had assigned the horticulture duties to XENs of the civil wing.

The 20 wards in Karnal have been equally divided between two XENs. They will take care of the parks, besides the civil works in the wards. “The XENs have been asked to ensure timely completion of all works,” said Abhishek Meena, Commissioner, KMC.

The junior engineers (JEs) of the wards concerned have been directed to assist the XENs in the timely execution of works. “The XENs and JEs will have to ensure that quality in maintained and all works are completed within the stipulated timeframe. They will continue to inspect all parks to ensure facilities are up to the mark,” the commissioner maintained.

He said a work order had been issued for the cleanliness and maintenance of the parks and an agency had been contracted for a period of one year.

An official said of the 180 parks in the city, 24 were currently being managed by Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs). The authorities are also planning to rope in more RWAs for better management of the parks.

The commissioner said an agency was hired earlier to repair swings in the parks, but the work was progressing at a snail’s pace. It has been told to expedite the work.