The Times of India 19.08.2013
Nashik Municipal Corporation and PWD make 'self-provisions' in supplementary budget
NASHIK: The Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) and the public works department (PWD), along with the commissionerate of police, are reported to have made some provisions of funds for the Kumbh Mela from their own departments in the forthcoming supplementary budget, Nashik district supply officer Mahesh Patil told TOI on Sunday.
"The high-power committee (HPC) chaired by state chief secretary Jayantakumar Banthia had asked all the government agencies to make provisions of funds in the supplementary budget. Accordingly, the NMC is reported to have made a provision of Rs 158 crore, while the PWD has made a provision of Rs 325 crore in addition to the funds that were allocated to the respective departments in the state budget for the year
2013-'14," Patil said. The HPC is scheduled to meet on Monday for discussing the plan further, before it is presented to the apex committee headed by the chief minister.
Nashik revenue commissioner Ravindra Jadhav, NMC commissioner Sanjay Khandare, district collector Vilas Patil and other senior officials will attend the Mumbai meeting on Monday.
Patil said that the commissioner of police had also sanctioned some funds for closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras to be installed in the city, but the exact amount was not conveyed so far. The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC), the irrigation department, Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran and others had failed to make any provisions in the supplementary budget prepared in July.
The National Highway Division has also made provisions for the 50-km Nashik-Peth Road and the widening of a 5-km stretch of highway between Dwarka and Datta Mandir Road, passing through Nashik city. As far as the Railways were concerned, the state government has decided to share 50 per cent of the development works to be carried out in the backdrop of Kumbh.
"None of the other departments have made any provisions in the supplementary budget," Patil said; letters sent to these departments seeking information on fund provisions haven't elicited any response.
The priority plan of Rs 2,297 crore for the Kumbh Mela, to be held in the district in 2015-'16, has been prepared. This is actually part of the massive Rs 4,900-crore plan prepared by all the agencies coming together. The priority plan, which has been approved by the HPC, concerns important infrastructural work to handle the large crowds that will be coming to Nashik during the Kumbh.
Expecting a crowd of more than one crore visiting Nashik and Trimbakeshwar in a day's time on some of the auspicious days, the administration has to have the transport, health, food and supplies in place. Government agencies have been churning these plans for the past two years. The time left for the execution of these is less than two years.
