It took the authorities more than four years to start construction on the Sadar police station building. In this time, the jurisdiction of the area under which the office was to function has been transferred to the Kotfatta police station.
This is then expected to even more snarls and delays in the construction of the building.
Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal had laid the foundation stone of what was to be then the Sadar police station. The jurisdiction was transferred in 2010.
It has also come to light that the executing agency for the project, the Bathinda Development Authority, failed to start work for over six months at the site. Reports suggest that after the jurisdiction was transferred, the agency was forced to abandon the project.
Now, even as there is no progress on the project, the foundation stone still stands bearing the names of the MP, the BDA, names of the offices of the SSP Bathinda and Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of police, Faridkot range.
BDA chief administrator Varinder Kumar Sharma claimed that he was not aware of the exact status of the project and said that no such building existed in the records now.
{{/usCountry}}BDA chief administrator Varinder Kumar Sharma claimed that he was not aware of the exact status of the project and said that no such building existed in the records now.
{{/usCountry}}Bathinda SSP Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said there was a proposal to construct the building at that site, but the project was abandoned after the jurisdiction of police stations was redefined in 2010. He said that administration was looking for land for the new building at the Sadar police station, somewhere on Ring Road Phase II.
Meanwhile, the delay in constructing the new building has meant that cops continue to work from an old building in Guru NanakPura locality, sharing the premises with the crime investigation agency of the
district police.