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Port Blair study tour report turns to be a copy-paste job
After three months and spending Rs 28 lakh on a nine-day study tour to Port Blair, Chennai and Kolkata from August 31 to September 9, the municipal corporation has prepared a vague report which has contents picked up from the respective websites of civic bodies.
After three months and spending Rs 28 lakh on a nine-day study tour to Port Blair, Chennai and Kolkata from August 31 to September 9, the municipal corporation has prepared a vague report which has contents picked up from the respective websites of civic bodies.
The 20-page report, which will be placed in the House on December 30, has been prepared by MC’s law officer Ashok Gautam, sub-divisional engineer Ajay Garg, executive engineer Sham Lal and chief auditor RS Kang. The report mentions geographical areas, formation and its functions, names of all councillors and mayors, which is already available on the websites of the MCs of Chennai (www.chennaicorporation.gov.in), Kolkata (www.kmcgov.in) and Port Blair municipal council (www.and.nic.in).
One of the recommendations made in reference to the visit to the Kolkata MC was that the tax collection system prevalent in their civic body could be adopted in Chandigarh, whereas the fact that these taxes have already been collected by the Chandigarh MC is mentioned nowhere in the entire report.
Most recommendations made in the report are already enforced or implemented by the Chandigarh administration or municipal corporation (see box).
A BJP councillor, who was a part of the tour, said, “We only spent four hours in meetings and presentations with the civic bodies of Chennai, Kolkata and Port Blair. Even worse, some of the councillors did not even bother to attend the meetings.”
Former mayor and SAD-BJP councillor Harjinder Kaur skipped the meeting on disaster management in Port Blair and went for
sightseeing with the family members of BJP councillors Arun Sood and Asha Kumari Jaswal, he claimed.
The councillors visited Port Blair for two days, but jut held a one-hour meeting with officials.
