Rain exposes chinks in Dharamsala Smart City works

Lalit Mohan

Dharamsala, July 6

Heavy rain in Dharamsala today exposed flaws in the Smart City project, with ducts laid for carrying electricity cables disrupting the natural water flow in the town. The incomplete ducts along the Smart Road leading from the Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education to bus stand have started creating problems for residents with the onset of monsoon.

The residents alleged that water had started entering private properties as the natural flow of water was disrupted.

The work for laying the ducts has been going on for the past about two years. The Dharamsala Municipal Corporation (MC) had cancelled the contract with the previous contractor citing the poor quality of the work. The new contractor has sought a few more months to complete the work.

Varun, a resident of Civil Lines, said, “The area had drains along the roadside that used to carry water to rivulets. However, these drains have been dug up for laying of the ducts. It was surprising that the Smart City project authorities did not factor in that the area receives heavy rainfall and there has to be some mechanism to allow the natural flow of water.”

Besides Civil Lines, the natural drainage has been disrupted in many other parts of the town due to the Smart City project. At several places, raised footpaths have also disrupted the natural drainage of the town.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, officials of the Dharamsala MC blamed the poor quality work on political interference in the Smart City works. They alleged that many contracts were awarded under political influence during the previous BJP government, leading to the poor quality of work. Some of these works had been cancelled and contracts re-allocated, they said.

Former IAS officer and commissioner of the Dharamsala Municipal Corporation, JM Pathania alleged that the Dharamsala Smart City project was compromised and people lost an opportunity to get investment worth hundreds of crores from the Union Government.

Pathania said the first compromise in the project was the appointment of the Project Management Consultancy (PMC). Initially, it was decided that only a company with an experience at the global level would be appointed as the PMC.

“It was decided that while selecting the PMC, 90 per cent weightage would be given to the international experience of the firm and 10 per cent to the financial part. However, the condition on the international experience was waived later and the weightage to the experience reduced from 90 per cent to 80 per cent. As a result, most international companies backed out,” Pathania said.