Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The workers at office of central project administration feel uncertain about their future. On August 20, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had announced to abolish Capital Project Administration (CPA). The CM was annoyed to see poor roads of state capital.
When Free Press contacted officials, they refused to say anything on record. Wishing anonymity, some of the officials said CPA has been made the scapegoat.
“If the bad roads are the cause, then only 7.5 per cent of damaged roads were constructed by CPA and rest were laid by Bhopal Municipal Corporation, PWD and other departments. Then why CPA was targeted? an official said wishing anonymity.
One of the officers said they are preparing the details of CPA, like assets, liabilities, details of ongoing works, number of staff, number of regular workers, daily wagers etc.
The CPA has five divisions - gas relief, Vidhan Sabha, electrical and mechanical and two divisions of civil construction. All the five circles are compiling the data.
Though 15 days have passed after chief minister made the announcement, no letter from general administration department has been issued to close CPA, officials said. However, correspondences related to collected information are moving from one department to another.
Recently, information about the staff was sent to certain department, the department returned the information along with the format and asked CPA officials to fill it accordingly. The CPA superintendent engineer Ravi Mittal told Free Press that CPA has works worth more than Rs 360 crore for execution. “After construction, roads are handed over to BMC, other departments for maintenance,” he added.
Unhappy with CM move
Officials are not happy with CM’s decision. One of the officers stated that in every state capital development authorities are present with different names. In Nagpur, Bangaluru, Chennai metropolitan development authorities exist. One of the officer said that if the CM has any problem with CPA, he can established Bhopal metropolitan development authority and appoint more engineers to look after development of state capital.
Hands are full
The officials said CPA runs several projects in capital city and maintains Mantralaya, Satpura Bhawan, Vindhyanchal Bhawan, state assembly, MLA rest house, six hospitals including Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Kamla Nehru, master Lal Singh, Shakir Ali and Pulmonary hospital, several parks etc.
National Institute for Research in Environmental Health in Bhauri, development works in Rajiv Gandhi Proudyogiki Vishwavidyalaya, construction and maintenance of government colleges like MLB, polytechnic college and others are also with CPA besides Mantralaya Bhawan, Nirvachan Sadan, Industrial Training Institute, Madhya Pradesh Academy of Administration, Urja Bhawan, Babe-Ali-stadium, TT Nagar stadium. Shortly, CPA will construct rest house for MLAs worth Rs 180 crore. The CPA will also construct roads worth over Rs 50 crore.
