Citizens often complain that the state capital has not witnessed the desired urban metamorphosis even after seven-and-a-half years of the NDA regime. Ambitious projects often progress at snail’s pace, they say. The Telegraph checks out the status of few such schemes:
Park plot
Project: Shaheed Veer Kunwar Azadi Park: The state urban development and housing department was given the responsibility of redeveloping the memorial to Viceroy Hardinge near Patna Junction as an iconic park in 2010 in public-private partnership mode. Private firms, however, gave it a cold shoulder. In July 2012, the state decided to fund it and the project cost was downsized to Rs 2 crore from the initial Rs 242.96 crore.
Status: “The boundary wall has been erected on the northern flank but no work could be done on the south because Patna Municipal Corporation’s secondary landfill site of the city is there,” said a senior urban development and housing department official.
Date test
Project: Online test for learner’s licence: In a bid to expedite the process of issuing learner’s licence, the transport department decided to conduct online test in August last year.
Status: The entire set-up for the online test is ready at the district transport office at Biscomaun Bhavan and trial runs of the software “Saarathi” has been completed. “We are just waiting for the availability of dates of the minister (Brishen Patel). We can launch the scheme any day,” said a transport department official.
Demolition hurdle
Ashiana-Digha drain cover: The construction of concrete box covers on a stretch of 1.8km on the existing drain along the west side of Ashiana-Digha Road was approved in January 2009 for an outlay of Rs 23 crore and January 2011 was the deadline.
Status: The revised target for the completion of the project is June 2013. “Out of the total length of 1,850m of the drain, we have covered 1,450m. Work is going on at fast pace on a stretch of 200m but the owners of three houses on the remaining stretch of 200m are not allowing us to demolish their boundary walls erected by encroaching the drain. The work should be completed by the end of this summer,” said Nawab Alam, senior project engineer, Patna-1, Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam Limited.
Waste stock
Patna solid waste management: The urban development and housing department roped in Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation (BUIDCo) in December 2011 for executing the integrated solid waste management project with Rs 110.59 crore under the JNNURM.
Status: Two months have passed after the project was transferred from BUIDCo to Patna Municipal Corporation but tenders have not been issued till date. “We had a detailed discussion with the new commissioner, Kuldip Narayan, last week and tenders might be issued within a month,” said a senior civic body officer.
Complex job
Mauryalok renovation : Housing over 300 shops and 100 offices, it is supposed to undergo a makeover according to the plan of architect Hafeez Contractor.
Status: Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation had handed over the proposal to the civic body last June but the standing committee of Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) rejected it several times. “The renovation plan of the complex was rejected by the standing committee in the last meeting on March 25 and BUIDCo has been asked to make certain modifications in the proposal,” said a senior PMC official.
Flat return
Residential flats: Bihar State Housing Board had mooted the proposal to develop around 10,000 new flats at Kankerbagh and Lohianagar. It issued an expression of interest in May 2011 and the finance department cleared it in the first week of March 2012.
Status: The project has been returned unapproved by the state cabinet for at least five times till date.