Houses await repairs as allotted funds lie unused

Ravinder Sood

Palampur, June 8

Local area development (LADA) funds have been lying unused with different authorities of the district for several years. These funds were to be spent on fixing the affected infrastructure in those areas of Kangra where the construction of a number of power projects by private companies led to roads, water sources, houses, water channels and other infrastructure being damaged.

As per the guidelines laid down by the Central Government under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), power firms were bound to deposit 1 per cent of the total cost of the project in the state exchequer, with the amount to be allotted for the development and restoration of infrastructure that had been affected during the constructions of such projects.

Information gathered by The Tribune revealed that the administration had failed to use the funds owing to “official bottlenecks”.

According to Baijnath and Kandwari residents, due to the construction of six projects in the region, a number of houses developed cracks (because of blasting), water supply schemes dried up, and roads were damaged.

“It seems that the government has forgotten about the repair work of the damaged infrastructure,” a resident rued. Panchayat pradhans of the affected areas said proposals for the repairs of the damaged infrastructure were sent to the district administration from time to time. However, no headway was made in this regard. A senior official of state government said while he could not provide exact details, a part of the funds had been utilised and the remaining funds would also be released to the departments concerned after the approval of the state government.