AAP, Utpal allege smart city work incomplete

PANAJI

The  Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday morning alleged that yet another deadline had been missed for completion of the 'smart city' works which are still substantially incomplete citing the stretch of road from the Tadmad temple near the Caculo mall to the Tonca STP.

Later in the evening, Utpal Parrikar, also visited the Tadmad temple area where he planted a sapling in one of the trenches there to highlight the failure of IPSCDL in adhering to the March 31 deadline.

IPSCDL CEO, Sanjit Rodrigues, however, has admitted that this stretch of about 200 meters is the only part that has remained incomplete due to the complexities involved in working at a depth of nearly 12 metres. He said more time will be sought to finish this work.

Meanwhile, AAP State president, Amit Palekar, who staged a protest alongwith other party leaders at the Tadmad temple area in St Inez said, IPSCDL has missed yet another deadline of March 31 and several works are still incomplete.

"Sub-standard concrete is used on soft land in the Panaji area which is proving to be a waste of approximately ₹1,400 crore of public funds being spent on the entire 'smart city' concept," Palekar said.

He also raised questions over the unplanned manner in which all the work was being executed throughout the last two-three years and the lack of transparency.

“Over Rs 1,000 crore had already been spent on the Smart City project, but the results were far from satisfactory,“ Palekar who was accompanied by AAP working president Valmiki Naik and other leaders, said.