Town hall-cum-auditorium in Kendrapara. Telegraph picture

Kendrapara, July 14: The town hall-cum-auditorium project in this district headquarters town has remained a non-starter after being hit by bureaucratic red tape. Notwithstanding generous flow of funds, the project has been wallowing in neglect for almost a decade.

Amid much fanfare, chief minister Naveen Patnaik had laid the foundation stone of the public utility project in 2003. Eight years on, there are no immediate signs of the auditorium getting unveiled for public use.

Though a sizeable chunk of the project has been complete, the civic authorities are doing precious little to complete the auditorium and have kept it under lock and key for reasons best known to them.

If the version given by the local municipal council is anything to go by, the project has been marred by large-scale misuse of funds. As a result, the cost of the project has escalated sharply.

Defective structural designing has also plagued the town hall project. The height of the building is well below the desired level. Besides, the structural design of the hall is also not conducive to an ambient sound system.

“Kendrapara has the oldest civic authority in the state. But in terms of civic amenities, the town still remains in the medieval age. The town is still bereft of an auditorium. For meeting, workshops, seminars and cultural programmes, the organisers are left with no options but to hire conference halls of local colleges. The town hall project should be expeditiously completed as it would give a platform to the town’s the cultural activities,” said Bichitrananda Mohanty, president of Kendrapara District Bar Association.

“Civic authorities have messed up the project right from the day its foundation stone was laid. The initial project cost was estimated to be Rs 30 lakh. But now, it has shot up to over Rs 1 crore. The plan and estimate of the project has undergone modification on a number of occasions. Those who were entrusted with the responsibility to execute the work lacked expertise to do different natures of works such as constructing a town hall. As a result, the town hall’s construction quality has been heavily compromised with,” said Kendrapara Municipality’s former chairman Bijoy Krushna Sahu.

The municipality’s vice-chairperson, Sabita Sahu, said: “A number of irregularities has marred the project. Over Rs 1.5 crore has so far been spent on the project of which about Rs 50 lakh was spent without adhering to mandatory tender bidding norms.”

“The civic officials here should have sought technical advice from experts as auditorium construction falls under specialised nature of work. As no expert advice was sought, the town hall-cum-auditorium now wears the look of a warehouse. There are several technical flaws in its construction,” said Mohammad Akbar Ali, another former chairman of the municipality.

“The project is a case that shows the inefficiency of the local municipality’s administration. There has not only been inordinate delay in completion of the project, but qualitative aspect of the work has also been overlooked,” said Hizbur Rehman, a local councillor.

However, Kendrapara Municipality executive officer, Krupasindhu Panda said: “Delay in completion of the project is due to factors beyond our control. Technical inspection of the work has been conducted from time to time. Barring electrification and interior decoration, civil construction work of the project is over. It would be shortly thrown open to the public.”