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Ambala city: Four years on, three development projects hanging fire
The three projects worth ₹28 crore have been stalled by the Ambala municipal corporation due to paucity of funds
Even after four years, three development projects worth ₹28 crore are yet to be completed due to paucity of funds.
The projects -- Mahavir Park at Agrasen Chowk; Bal Bhawan, which is next to the park and Navrang Rai Talaab, behind Panchayat Bhawan -- are being developed by the municipal corporation and have missed several deadlines despite the budget being increased twice, official said.
Engineers of the civic body said that the process for allotting new tenders with revised budgets is still underway for all the projects.
Municipal commissioner Dhirendra Khadgata, said, “Specifications and requirements for all three projects have changed, which lead to increase in costs and stalled their development.”
Mahavir Park
The construction of Mahavir Park started in September 2017 at a cost of ₹9 crore over 25 acres of land. It was planned to have a walking path shaped like a turtle and a restaurant in the lake among other attractions.
It is coming up at one of the busiest intersections in the city, which has many sparkling markets and the park is being transformed from a barren water body to a tourist spot.
The work was halted in 2019 over paucity of funds and resumed with a revised budget of ₹18 crore after a few months. However, the process stopped again during the lockdown last year and now, more funds are needed.
A controversy had erupted earlier when the then health minister and Ambala Cantt MLA Anil Vij wrote to the then urban local bodies minister Kavita Jain, seeking an inquiry into alleged irregularities in a maintenance tender in 2016, before the beautification work started.
Navrang Rai Talaab
The pond is surrounded by at least 14 temples and attracts devotees from many north Indian states during the annual vaman mela in September.
Its beautification was announced by chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar in 2015,with an initial budget of ₹3.5 crore. However, the cost increased to ₹11 crore and work has now stopped due to the change in budget, officials said. Recently, a few devotees were injured after a railing fell into the pond at the site on the last day of a three-day mela last month.
BAL BHAWAN
The foundation stone of the Bal Bhawan was laid by Khattar in March 2018 in the presence of MP Rattan Lal Kataria and MLA Aseem Goel. It was initially supposed to come up at a cost of ₹6 crore, but after the cost rose to ₹9 crore, the construction was halted. The building adjoining Mahavir Park is in a decrepit state, with more than half its basement filled with rain and sewage water.
