The Indian Express 31.07.2012
No one knows what good study tours did to MC
Though councillors of the Municipal Corporation have visited several
places on ‘study tours’ over the past few years and spent close to Rs 80
lakh, the civic body seems to have no knowledge about the outcome of
these tours. To a question posed by a councillor, the MC has replied
that there is no record of any proposal mooted or project executed after
the study tours.
BJP councillor Satinder Singh, while raising several questions
about the study tours, demanded to know the number of tours that the
councillors had undertaken, the money that had been spent and the
projects that had been proposed or executed. The reply will be tabled in
the meeting of the General House of the MC to be held on Tuesday.
The councillors have been on five study tours since 2004 to
different destinations. When a tour is planned, councillors are given
options of the places they would like to visit. Different groups visit
different locations. After some tours, reports were also submitted about
the visit and suggestions about what can be executed. Some of the
reports were tabled in the previous meetings of the House.
Former nominated councillor Dr A P Sanwaria says, “How is it
possible that there is no record available of the proposals mooted
during the study tours? Reports had been prepared and submitted. In fact
one of the proposals was that of the Sensory Park that was built in
Sector 26.”
Councillors have in the past visited places like Gangtok,
Siliguri, Darjeeling, Kolkata, Cochin, Thiruvananthapuram, Gujarat and
Singapore, among others. A variety of proposals were raised, but most
were rejected. A proposal for a fire academy was turned down. Another
proposal to generate power through the energy generated by play
equipment was also raised.
Satinder Singh says that it was suprising to know that the Municipal
Corporation does not have records about the tours. “Over the past few
years, places to be visited were finalized and then the aim of the tour
discussed. Public money worth lakhs was misused for the tours. Now the
officials are claiming that there is no record of the proposals mooted
during the tours,” he said.
The study tour proposed recently was cancelled after many
councillors refused to give consent for the tour, terming it a wastage
of public money.
