Tura, April 12: BJP MDC from Tura, Bernard Marak has questioned the implementation of smart town project in the town of Tura alleging that the involvement of non-local contractors, architects and designers would lead to the project becoming a ‘dumb town’ due to ignorance and irresponsibility.
Bernard claimed hardly 50% of the work had been done so far.
“Smart town projects should not end up becoming a dumb town project due to ignorance and irresponsibility. It’s observed that hardly 50% work has been done and involvement of the non local contractors, architects and designers have led to manipulation the actual plan of the town,” felt Bernard.
Giving an example of the distortion, Bernard pointed to design at the base of street lights in Chandmari, Araimile and Ringre, which are supposed to resemble the Garo ‘Dama’ being shaped like ‘kuls’.
The architect has made a wrong design and it’s a glaring mistake which will remain an eye sore. They didn’t even make effort to correct the misconception of the designers. It would have been best if the work was given to local people instead of hiring foreign contractors and designers who have no knowledge of the Garos. These errors will do permanent damage to the town,” he added.
The Tura MDC felt that the project could have been implemented better if it was handed over to local development committees instead of the contractors.
“Contractors will do mere 50% compared to committees who would have done 100% work from the amount sanctioned to their localities,” he felt.
He also added that RTIs have been filed by them with the BJP closely monitoring the implementation of the smart town project.
“Drum design error is just one of those many mistakes the designers have committed. Public money should not go waste and contractors should be made accountable to the works done with public money,” said Bernard.