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4 yrs on, Karnal Smart City remains a distant dream
Making Karnal a smart city still remains a distant dream as works on most big ticket projects approved under this scheme have not been started yet
Making Karnal a smart city still remains a distant dream as works on most big ticket projects approved under this scheme have not been started yet.
In June 2017, Karnal, the constituency of Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, was included in the Centre’s Smart City Project with promise to improve quality of life, smooth traffic movement, sanitation, security and safety and better health facilities but in the past four years, no major changes have occurred.
As per officials monitoring the project, in the beginning, the blueprint of Karnal Smart City Limited (KSCL) had 57 projects – including 40 projects of ₹1,022.08 crore kept under area-based development on 720 acres and 17 projects of ₹149.75 crore were under PAN City Solutions. But now, the project is not limited to just 720 acre but will cover the entire city. Total 24 projects approved earlier have been dropped and 23 new projects were added taking the number of total projects to 56.
As per the status report, of the 56 projects planned, only 13 small projects of ₹10.27 crore – including city bus service, installation of musical fountains have been completed in the past four years.
Work on 20 projects of ₹182 crore, including a city surveillance system of ₹152 crore, is under construction. But work on 33 major projects of around ₹474 crore is yet to start.
Several projects including open-air gyms, smart utilities, earmarked cycle track, rejuvenation of Atal Park, city surveillance, redevelopment of old bus stand, etc are under-construction for over two years.
Ramanjeet Kuar, councilor from ward 11 of the Karnal MC, and her husband Gurinder Singh are not satisfied with the slow progress of works. They said, “There is nothing on the name of smart city yet. We don’t think anything has been done to improve quality of life in city. Building entry gates will not help until we provide basic facilities to people.”
However, the officials also blame the Covid-19 pandemic for delay in execution of under-construction projects.
Nishant Kumar Yadav, CEO of KSCL and Karnal deputy commissioner, said work on many projects was delayed due to the pandemic but efforts are being made to speed up completion of the projects. Over the delay in disbursement of funds, he said that allocation of funds is based on expenditure done.
“As the area under the smart city project has been extended, I am hopeful that Karnal will be a smart city in the next three years,” said the CEO.
However, Karnal MC mayor Renu Bala Gupta said the project is being monitored by the CEO and the MC does not have any major role to play, but some projects were delayed as they caused inconvenience to some residents.
Karnal was included in the smart cities’ list by the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs on June 23, 2017. It took one-and-a-half-years to appoint a consultant for the project and now the DPR of two major projects, including construction of 2.1km flyover along the railway road and redevelopment of a 1km stretch between Namaste Chowk to Meera Ghati Chowk, has been proposed but residents of these areas are opposing it.
