Smart City Dharamsala project courts row

Lalit Mohan

Dharamsala, February 25

The Smart City Dharamsala project is once again courting controversy. Dharamsala Mayor Neenu Sharma has demanded a Vigilance inquiry into development works undertaken under the project while local MLA Sudhir Sharma has sought a CBI inquiry.

Mayor calls for Vigilance probe

The road to the house of former Union Minister Chandresh Kumari constructed under the project has collapsed. Poor quality tiles have been installed on footpaths. I have demanded a Vigilance inquiry against the officials concerned. Neenu Sharma, Dharamsala Mayor

Neenu, while talking to The Tribune, said that most of works accomplished under the Smart City project were of substandard quality. “Smart walls are being constructed under the project along the main road passing through Dharamsala. Recently, a smart wall collapsed after a car rammed into it. In my ward, a new sewage treatment plant has been set up under the project but its pipes are leaking at many places,” she added.

She said, “The road to the house of former Union Minister Chandresh Kumari constructed under the project has collapsed. Poor quality tiles have been installed on footpaths. I have demanded a Vigilance inquiry against the officials concerned under whose supervision these works have been executed.”

Meanwhile, Sudhir Sharma sought a CBI inquiry into development works. He said that the Vigilance Bureau was a state agency, which could be influenced, and hence a CBI inquiry would be appropriate.

The Smart City project time frame will end in June this year. It was sanctioned in August 2015 and an Rs 2,109 crore budget was proposed for it. However, the budget has now been limited to just Rs 631 crore. The remaining Rs 1,478 crore grant proposed for the project initially has been shelved. Dharamsala was selected in the first phase of the programme for cities to be developed as Smart cities. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had initiated the scheme on June 25, 2015.

The sources said that of Rs 631 crore to be spent on the project, the state government had provided Rs 50 crore while the Union Government would contribute the remaining Rs 581 crore. Around Rs 550 crore works have already been completed or are under construction in Dharamsala while the Union and state governments are yet to provide funds for the remaining works worth Rs 81 crore.

Planned works worth Rs 2,109 crore, most of them under the Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis, have not been executed. These works are still pending as investors did not come forward to implement these.

As per the original proposal, the state and Union governments were to equally share the cost of the project. However, later the Himachal Government expressed its inability to bear 50% of the project. It requested the Union Government to reduce the state’s contribution to 10 per cent, as Himachal got funds for most of the projects from the Centre under the 90:10 per cent sharing pattern. The Union Government, however, did not accept the proposal.