The Times of India       30.12.2014  

2014, a year of unfulfilled corporation promises

COIMBATORE: The civic body is known for passing resolutions and promising action. It had announced several projects in the last few years and also set aside a budget for preparing project reports. Most of the projects were supposed to begin in 2014 but that has not been the case. TOI takes a look at all the unfulfilled promises made by the civic body.

In the 2012 budget, the civic body had promised to construct an indoor stadium of international standards with swimming pool and sports hostel at a cost of Rs5.8cr. But it has remained on paper since then. Even though they passed the resolution again in the 2014 council meeting, sports officials are not confident about its implementation. "The indoor stadium and the astro-turf for hockey have been announced several times since 2004. But it remains on paper," said an official.

Another major delayed project is the scientific capping of the garbage at Vellalore dumpyard that was supposed to be completed by March, 2013 and later the date was shifted to July, 2014 and again, the civic body has announced a new date which is January, 2015.

The 11 scheme roads that were announced in the budget of 2012 and also in the 2013 budget, are yet to take off due to land acquisition issues. "We have come up with a new scheme called Transferrable Development Rights where the floor space index will be increased by 1% so that the public will give us the land for the road work," said a higher official at the corporation. This year, it has set aside substantial funds for restoration of the lakes which was announced in the last budget as well, said a civic activist.

According to officials, the multi-level car parking at R S puram will be delayed further and the bus stand at Vadavalli and Kavundampalayam might kick start in January 2015. Several ring roads and other road widening projects are at DPR stage, said an official. "For all the projects announced, the civic body has done its job of preparing a DPR. The government is yet to release funds for all the projects," added the official. The long pending Vellalore bus stand is all set to be kick started this year, he added.

Three new years have passed but the pending projects of the city remain the same. The civic body takes along with it the traffic congestion, source segregation and announced projects into yet another year.