Tura, Oct 21: Former South Tura MLA, John Leslee K Sangma has torn into the state government as well as the Urban Affairs department over the proposed ‘beautification and improvement of Tura’ calling the project a waste of money as well as a way to inconvenience residents of the town.
The project has been given by the department to one MSL Jangid IV and Cee Cee Construction, a company based in Noida in Uttar Pradesh, with no apparent knowledge of local topography, in the year 2020. The beautification project has been named ‘Beautification of Tura Junction’ by the Urban Affairs department, leaving many to seek answers to which junction is being spoken of. The total cost of the project stood at Rs 12.45 crores.
“From the information gathered through RTI it is learned that this project was prepared by a firm from outside the state with no knowledge of the topography of the town or the difficulty being faced by the people of Tura,” stated Leslee through a press release this evening .
He alleged that the government, without studying the feasibility of the project approved the parameters of the proposed construction prepared by the outside agency and accused the officers of acting irresponsibly by simply giving their seal and signatures, allowing the contractor to start work.
“At present the work is going on in full swing but in a negative direction from the view of public convenience and benefit. Costly flower pots costing ₹ 7474 each and electric posts costing ₹ 99,332 each are being erected in the footpaths obstructing the right of way of the pedestrians,” he stated.
“Tura has footpaths only on one side of the road which is hardly three feet wide and the state government has taken away the rights of the citizens. The footpaths are being used to erect huge flower pots and electric posts in public utility space,” he added.
According to the RTI, a total of 164 electric posts and 465 flower pots are going to be erected. The former MLA asserted that one stretch of the newly constructed footpath is hardly one and half feet wide rendering it unfit for use by pedestrians.
“However is adorned with structures with a sole purpose of siphoning public money. The most bizarre design is the intention to beautify Ringrey Junction with two rows for auto rickshaw parking, an office building, a plaza (normally used for public gathering) and an amphitheatre. All this is a space measuring 8 feet by 40 feet,” claimed Leslee.
The former MLA observed that the above design in an extremely small area was approved by the department and the government, indicating that the project was a bogus one. He felt that the approval was done by the department while keeping their eyes closed.
Calling for a thorough investigation into the irregularities by the highest authority of the land, Leslee stated that the project was in violation of the department’s vision of reducing pollution under the AMRUT mission which aims to create space for walking and cycling.
“A huge amount of public money is being misused and wasted without any benefit to the general public and this needs to be investigated.