Dehradun Kathbangla : How serious the government is towards the poor and how government money is wasted can be seen in Kathbangla area of Doon. The work of building houses for the poor started here by spending crores of rupees but has not been completed till date.
The half-built houses have become ruins today. Neither the Municipal Corporation nor the Government took care of them. However, now the Municipal Corporation has entrusted the responsibility of making their estimate to the PWD.
In the year 2011, under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Scheme, the work of building flats for the people living on the banks of the Rispana River started. About Rs 6 crore was approved for this project. The work was given to UP Construction Corporation.
148 flats were to be built under the project. But after spending 80 percent of the money, UP Construction Corporation left the flats incomplete. People are occupying some incomplete flats. Besides, these flats which have turned into ruins are becoming dens of drunkards, gamblers and drug addicts.
Dehradun Kathbangla Now again efforts are going on to complete these flats.
Now once again there is talk of building homes for the poor. The Municipal Corporation has written a letter to the government demanding Rs 8 crore to complete the project. The Public Works Department has made an estimate of Rs 9 crore for the project and handed it over to the Municipal Corporation.
Municipal Commissioner Manuj Goyal said that the estimate will be sent to the government for approval. As soon as the approval is received, the construction work of the flats will be started.
The flats that were prepared in Kathbangla are quite small. Therefore the residents of the colony refused to leave. The rooms are so small that even people’s luggage cannot fit completely. Therefore, if the corporation plans to reconstruct these flats, then the size of the rooms should be increased. – Rajkumar, former MLA