A project of conservation and beautification of historical ponds of Rs
4.28 crore was sanctioned for the renovation and beautification of Sarang Talab
in Sarnath area a few months back. Without beginning of any work, the
VDA made a payment of Rs 42 lakh to the contractor recently. A complaint
was made to divisional commissioner CK Tiwari recently and he ordered
the VDA vice-chairman VK Singh to give a report within two days.

Singh said on Sunday that the report would be submitted to the
commissioner on Monday. He reiterated that the contractor had started
the work and Rs 42 lakh had been paid after getting the verification
reports from the executive engineer of VDA and also the Indian National Trust
for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), which is the consultant for
this project. He claimed that the contractor had done the work to drain
out water from pond and check the disposal of sewage in the Sarang
Talab.

Son of Sarangnath temple’s mahant Manish Upadhyaya told
TOI on Sunday that he had not seen any work for the conservation or
renovation of Sarang Talab in past few years and the people who are
claiming to begin any project here should come before the local
residents to prove it. Retired police sub-inspector Umakant Tiwari also
denied to have seen anybody working there for the conservation of
historical water body. Local shopkeeper Babaji said that after
renovation works done in 2004-05, he did not see anybody doing repair
work at Sarang Talab.

“Two-three days back some people had
visited the site. They dumped mud in the drains through which rain water
was reaching the pond during Monsoon,” said Babaji. The local residents
mentioned the name Pawan Pandey and said that he had installed a water
pump to fill water in Sarang Talab when it had turned dry during draught
a few years back. When asked that VDA is claiming that the contractor
had drained out the water from pond, Manish said: “Had the water been
removed from it how is still visible in the pond and how the fish are
alive.”Despite these claims of the local residents, the VDA
vice-chairman said that the allegations being leveled on the agency for
making payment without beginning of work are baseless and these
practices are being done by the contractors who failed to get this work
during tender process. He said that the project was delayed due cases
filed by farmers pending in courts for disposal.