Fix liability for failed reconstruction agency schemes: NPP chief
Alleging total collapse of the Economic Reconstruction Agency (ERA) in the state, National Panthers Party (NPP) chairman and MLA Harsh Dev Singh, said accountability must be fixed for the failure of dozens of projects taken up by the agency.
Alleging total collapse of the Economic Reconstruction Agency (ERA) in the state, National Panthers Party (NPP) chairman and MLA Harsh Dev Singh, said accountability must be fixed for the failure of dozens of projects taken up by the agency.
He alleged that the agency was entrusted with constructing roads, bridges and sewerage, and drainage and channelisation projects funded under the Asian Development Bank (ADB) scheme, but the majority of these schemes had been abandoned or left half-done.
Demanding that the guilty should be punished for the non-completion of the projects, he sought a proper mechanism to ensure that the funds provided under ADB schemes were not plundered, leakages were plugged and sanctioned projects were completed on time.
Mentioning the Bani-Daggar, Doda-Barath, Udhampur-Ramnagar and Kalai-Saki Maidan road projects, he alleged, "These roads are the worst victims of official apathy and red-tapism. They were taken up for construction in 2006-2007, but are either incomplete, or were abandoned. It is an abuse of public resources."
He said several sewerage and drainage projects had also met the same fate.
"Work on the channelisation and rehabilitation of primary drains was abandoned mid-way, with work on Janipur Nullah left half-done and old Jammu City and Patta Bohri areas completely untouched," he alleged, adding that there was a lot of resentment in Shakti Nagar, Subash Nagar, Rajpura and the area adjoining the cremation ground, which were ignored under ADB's Janipur Nullah scheme.
Singh said all the schemes had been funded under Loan I Scheme of ADB, the term of which had already expired, and pointed out the apathetic attitude of ERA regarding the execution of work on the Bikram Chowk Flyover, which was to be built at an estimated cost of Rs 65 crore under Loan II of ADB.
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