Nothing ‘Smart’ in Jalandhar for its residents

Deepkamal Kaur
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, August 11

Even as it has been nearly four years since Jalandhar was included in the list of cities to be spruced up with Centre funds under the Smart City project, almost all major projects either remain in the tendering stage or have their execution pending.

The only two projects which are in advance stage include those of installation of solar panels atop 17 government buildings to save energy consumption at a cost of Rs18 crore and equipping 141 primary and middle schools with smart classrooms.

However, neither of the two projects are of direct public utility as the residents in fact had been looking forward to having other more important civic amenities, including well-paved roads, properly installed LED lights, storm water sewage, Integrated Command and Control Centre for more safety, spruced up walkways, roadside benches, better landscaping of green belts, escalator/ramps at railway station etc, none of which are yet available to them.

Jalandhar Congress MP Chaudhary Santokh Singh himself confesses that the majority of the works are at tender stage and their execution would begin soon. He has said that the projects with an estimated cost of Rs 82.29 crore were under execution whereas tenders have been issued for projects worth Rs894.39 crore.

Even the work for the facelift of 11 chowks which was to be done at a cost of Rs 20.32 crore is still to be completed. Work on Dr BR Ambedkar Chowk, Guru Amardass Chowk, Kapurthala Chowk, Bhagwan Valmiki Chowk (Jyoti Chowk), Guru Ravidass Chowk, Doaba Chowk, PNB Chowk and Kapurthala road intersection, BMC Chowk, HMV Chowk and Model Town intersection included in the project is still underway with no major change visible yet.

Work order for two projects — installation of 65,000 LED lamps at a cost of Rs43.8 crore and laying of storm water sewage system on 120 feet road for Rs21 crore — have been issued but the projects are yet to take off on ground. Two road sweeping machines taken under the project too remain unutilised.

The railway station here, too, is awaiting works to the tune of Rs6.26 crore for installation of escalators, construction of a foot overbridge and other works. A plan to develop a 4-5 km of walkway along DAV Canal too remains in papers only as of now.

The biggest failure under the project is the installation of 1,200 CCTV cameras at strategic points in the city and connecting them with an Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC), the foundation stone of which was laid two years ago in the PAP Complex. The project for safety of residents and to maintain a digital eye on the miscreants is hanging for long.

Ex-Mayor Sunil Jyoti commented upon the issue saying, “It was shocking to read a news report this morning that the CEO of Punjab Municipal Infrastructure Development Corporation (PMIDC) is proceeding on leave because Additional Chief Secretary of the Local Bodies is not clearing tender file for Rs250 crore pertaining to setting up of ICCCs in Punjab under Smart City project.”

It is a matter of great concern that bureaucracy of the state is so careless about the Union government funded projects too. Smart City projects are dream projects of the Prime Minister aimed at providing ultra modern facilities to cities for Rs2000 crores of which Rs1000 crore is to be funded by the Central fund. Unfortunately, there has been no implementation in the past 3.5 years,” he said.