Nagpur: Non-utilisation of Rs 7.76 crore, sanctioned by the State Government for construction of a dispensary at Nari area in North Nagpur, left the Mayor Dayashankar Tiwari red faced. Now, the NMC risks the possibility of the vital funds reverting back to the State Government’ s coffers due to shoddy affairs being run by babus of the local body.
As the matter came to the light, the furious Mayor himself decided to dig out the truth and systematically deciphered the alleged manipulation on the part of civic officials that resulted in no construction of the dispensary till date as the Rs 7.76 crore remained unutilised. Tiwari took the NMC officials to task and asked them a pointed question. “Do the civic officials want the vital funds to be reverted back to the State Government?” And then asked the babus to explain the apathy for delaying construction of the dispensary at Nari in North Nagpur.
The matter was brought to fore by Corporator Manoj Sangole and as discussion progressed the details that tumbled out from civic officials themselves put them in the dock. Civic officials including Soanli Chavan, Executive Engineer, PWD, Harshal Gedam, Assistant Director, Town Planning, and later Municipal Commissioner Radhakrishnan B tried hard to defend NMC administration and constantly stuck to one point that the matter lay in domain of Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT) to shrug of their responsibility. The Municipal Commissioner said the construction could not take place as no land is available with NMC for laying 18 metre road. He said only NIT can now resolve the matter by giving TDR for acquisition of private land.
During the bombardment of questions, as to how the State Government sanctioned funds for the project, the administration said the 18 metre DP road exists only on paper but in reality there is private land and the same would need to be acquired. Turning the tables on the officials, the Mayor shot back and asked, “Did NMC officials misrepresent facts to the State Government to seek the funds?”.
The Corporator Sangole pointed out that there is no dearth of land for roads and claimed that a private builder has dug up land around the location of the dispensary. Till sometimes back the land was used to criss-cross by locals and for movement by vehicles. And ironically the land for dispensary was acquired by NMC in lieu of TDR so how come officials did not anticipate the need for the approach road.
The shabby matter exposed lack of coordination among different departments of the civic body that invited displeasure of the Mayor himself. Further Sangole earlier tried to provide direction to civic officials saying plenty of other sites are available to relocate the civic dispensary but he was shown in poor light. The officials cited rules and other encumbrances to show reluctance to shift the dispensary and must have rued at the missed chance. Because under grazed scrutiny of their action, NMC officials found themselves badly exposed.
