Excelsior Correspondent
UDHAMPUR, Jan 30 : Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh today pulled up the administration for the slow pace of Rs 200 crore Centrally funded river Devika national project and issued strict instructions to expedite the work and stick to timelines. He said, now that the COVID pandemic is on its way out, there will be no compromise either on the pace or on the quality or works, and those found guilty of doing so will not be spared.
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Accompanied by a team of senior UT officers including Principal Secretary (Housing) Dheeraj Gupta, Chief Engineer UED Basharat Kuwait, District Development Commissioner Dr Piyush Singla and other senior officers of the UT and district administration, Dr. Jitendra Singh expressed displeasure over the delay in meeting the timelines of the project and pulled up the officers for not getting the execution of work as desired from the contractor and the contracting agency.
Dr Jitendra Singh also listened to the inputs from the public representatives including the Municipal Council President, Dr Yogeshwar, who suggested that the quality of work could be further improved. In response, the Minister took a serious note of the public feedback and asked the district administration to constitute a Monitoring Committee including public representatives and review the progress of the work on every last Saturday of the month.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, Devika is a prestigious national level project launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and it has to live up to the parameters of state-of-the-art quality. He said, anybody found taking liberty with the execution of work will not be spared and, if required, there will be no hesitation to impose even financial penalty on the executing or the contract agency.
Dr Jitendra Singh also suggested that the civil work, the floral work, the beautification work and other related works should be carried out simultaneously and in future he will keep a direct track on its progress. He also suggested arrangements for a Laser Show in the proposed Open Air Theatre, devoted to the theme of mythology and history of river Devika.
As the first project of its kind in North India, Dr. Jitendra Singh said, it is proposed to be developed not only as a holy centre but also as a recreation destination with ingredients of cultural and ethinic flavour. He also suggested the facility for parking of vehicles in the vicinity.
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