‘Centre has released INR 107 cr. Is it being used?’
Dimapur, March 11 (EMN): A group of ward ‘panchayat’ authorities in Kohima town is wondering why the once much-hyped ‘smart city’ project for the capital town has gone “eerily quiet” and “what is going on” with the ambitious, big-money development venture.
The Association of Kohima Municipal Wards Panchayat (AKMWP) issued a press release on Sunday asking whether the project had gone into ‘hibernation.’ The organisation added another qualm to it: whether the fund for the project was being utilized and work being undertaken.
“Of late, Kohima Smart City Project is eerily quiet. Public-private partnership and consultations appears to have gone into hibernation and the denizens are left to wonder what is going on and if any good will come of it,” the association stated.
“In this regard, we are given to understand that the central government has released its share of funds, Rs. 107 crores for the project. Subsequently, the Finance deptt. accorded clearance and had made it available for the implementing agency Kohima Smart City Development Corporation Limited through the municipal affairs dept. in the first half of 2017AD,” the press release stated.
Even after a lapse of about one year, the wards explained, “The masses are left wondering if the funds are utilized and works executed.” Convinced that “time and tide waits for no man,” the organisation felt that the ‘much promising’ Kohima Smart City Project ought not to be allowed to “fade away without producing results.”
The association explained that the Kohima Smart City Project had caused “much excitement and raised expectations of the masses that the state capital is all set to be transformed and to catch up with the more advanced, scientifically developed, planned cities, sooner than later.”
The public, it stated, awaits eagerly ‘practical implementation’ of the project “but do not notice any tangible progress, so far.” Here, the association said it had organized a “mass social work” in Kohima “to satisfy a key requirement of the smart city project i.e., ‘partnership and participation of the public’ and to secure declaration of the Kohima Smart City Project at the earliest.
The AKMWP and its constituent individual panchayats have accorded considerable attention and time. on requests of the authority,the Panchayats had also put efforts in preparing and forwarding well considered smart city proposals best suited and required in their respective wards.
“We encourage the concerned authorities to rededicate themselves and pursue the matter on a war footing. The AKMWP also congratulates the Peoples Democratic Alliance government of Nagaland and appeals for their considered attention to this matter,” the association added by way of appeal.
