The Times of India                24.01.2014

Fed up with bad roads? Visit rose garden

AURANGABAD: The cash-strapped Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC), which has failed to take up road contraction work for the past few months, is now gearing up to call tenders for the development of a rose garden at a cost of Rs 3.55 crore. This will be the third garden project of the civic body in the span of less than two months.

AMC's executive engineer Sikander Ali on Thursday said that the rose garden would come up on a four-acre land near Majnu Hills. The state-of-the-art project is expected to be completed in one and half years.

"It will be one of the best gardens in the city. It will be built in the shape of a rose. We are developing red-stone pathway besides planting variety of roses. The spot will also attract large number of domestic and foreign tourists," he said.

In November 2013, the civic body had approved proposals for the development of two gardens - the Kargil war memorial at Garkheda and the Sant Shrushtri garden at Ulka Nagari. The District Sainik Welfare Office is developing the Kargil war memorial on AMC land.

The civic body is spending Rs 4.8 crore on the Sant Shrushtri garden. In November 2013, the AMC finalized the agency to carry out beautification work of the garden and will install at least 18 statues of prominent personalities there.

A senior AMC official, requesting anonymity, said that the AMC is not spending on the Kargil war memorial. "Apart from this, the Union government had approved a separate fund for the rose garden. The Sant Shrushtri garden will get investment in the next three years," he said, adding that the civic body is also taking up road construction.

On Wednesday, the AMC decided at the eleventh hour to recall all tar road contracts and converted them into white topping works. The change in plan will delay the road works by at least 15-20 days.

Social activist Vishnu Dhoble ridiculed the AMC's approach on roads, saying that it was delaying road tenders for one reason or the other but deciding on the matter of gardens.

"There is a strong feeling of resentment among citizens as the roads are in bad condition. People need roads and not gardens," he said.