CM orders probe into city tenders during Nath tenure

Bhopal | Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan expressed displeasure with the officers over the non-working of cameras in Smart City Bhopal and the slow progress of Lakha Banjara Talab under construction of Sagar. CM Chouhan said that in the year 2019, the works done in Smart City Mission, their rationale, tender process, expenditure amount and irregularities will be investigated.

The Chief Minister has given instructions to examine the tenders for the construction works which were released during the Kamal Nath government. Public Works Minister Gopal Bhargava has raised questions regarding this.

Ministry sources said that the matter was raised by Chief Secretary Iqbal Singh Bains during the cabinet meeting. On this , the Chief Minister said that instead of beautification, utility and convenience of the public would be made a priority in the construction of smart city. He asked to stop floating new tenders and said that the works that have not started will be reviewed. Frugal and proper utilisation of funds will be ensured.

The Chief Minister said that he himself would interact with the public representatives of the seven smart cities namely Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar and Satna. He himself will review the schemes being implemented in all the seven cities point by point with the first meeting in Sagar on Dec 10.

It was informed in the meeting that 587 schemes out of 6600 crores are operational in the state. Out of this, works worth only 1577 crores have been completed. The Chief Minister said that better coordination should be ensured with various agencies related to urban management including Smart City Mission, Municipal Corporation and Police. In the mission, according to the need of the public and the priority of the city, the priority of the works will be decided in consultation with the public representatives and the citizens and construction works will be conducted accordingly.

Huge irregularities and scams have come to the fore in the land auction under the Bhopal Smart City Project. The matter has been complained to EOW. EOW is now investigating the matter. Recently, Smart City Limited Company has auctioned land worth crores of rupees in Bhopal. In the complaint received by the EOW, there has been an allegation of rigging the terms of the auction to benefit many well-known builders. This complaint has been made by those builders who did not get land in Smart City even after fulfilling the conditions.