BHOPAL: Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Bhopal Smart City Development Corporation Limited (BSCDCL) are in a conflict over several of their projects.
The two bodies, working for civic amenities and other developments lack coordination as there is no control of BMC over the smart city.
The lack of coordination between the two agencies and due to no say of public representatives in the BSCDCL, there have been instances when the ex-mayor Alok Sharma had to threaten to go on a strike, asking for an advisory board to be constituted.
He also demanded a probe into the scams that have marred the functioning of the smart city.
On the other hand, the smart city is governed by the chief executive officer (CEO) of the BSCDCL and now the CEO, who is supposed to follow orders of the BMC commissioner and collector, is senior to the two officials.
On the other hand, there are several projects that were initiated by the BMC, but due to lack of funds and other issues these projects were transferred to the smart city.
BSCDCL has now taken over three of the ambitious projects, initiated by the BMC after the civic body fell short of funds to complete those projects.
According to the sources it is likely that there will be more initiatives of the BMC that will be handed over to the smart city, as the civic body often falls short of funds.
Cycle tracks a failed project, objections galore over smart road
Public bike sharing (PBS) scheme with cycle tracks is a failed project. Ex-mayor Alok Sharma had raised objections before the project was sanctioned. Sharma had then said that there is a need of a public opinion on it, but he was not heard by the then CEO Chandramauli Shukla and the tracks were developed without proper planning. Similarly, the development of smart road is being done by the BSCDCL and there are several objections against it by ex-corproator Shabista Zaki. The development of arch-bridge by the BSCDCL is also marred with controversies.
Three major projects of BMC handed over to BSCDCL
Three major projects started by BMC- three multi-level parkings, Rani Kamlapati arch-bridge and the transfer stations of the BMC. From among the said projects, three multi-level parkings at MP Nagar, new market and at Bairagarh were initiated by BMC but were handed over to the BSCDCL. The arch-bridge too was started by BMC but is now under the smart city and there are controversies against it.
‘Scams underway in Smart City due to no say of public representatives’
Ex-mayor Alok Sharma says there are scams inside the smart city but due to no say of any public representative inside, no action is taken. He says the officials should seek advice of public representatives, but no advisory board was constituted till date.
