GUWAHATI, Dec 7 � The State Government has been asked to submit the status report on the construction works of the remaining two auditoriums of the Srimanta Sankaradeva Kalakshetra, on which crores of rupees have already been spent. The Gauhati High Court asked the Government today to submit the report on January 10 in response to a Public Interest Litigation filed recently by civil rights lawyer Bhaskar Dev Konwar.
The Kalakshetra, born out of the Assam Accord, was inaugurated on November 9, 1998 and the Chief Minister is the ex-officio Chairman of the general council, while the executive committee is headed by the Minister of Cultural Affairs.
Moreover, till date, no IAS or ACS officer has been appointed as the secretary to look after the affairs of the Kalakshetra Society.
Three auditoriums of 300, 800 and 1250-seat capacity were sanctioned for Kalakshetra. While the 300-seat auditorium has been completed, the 1250 and 800-seat auditoriums, work on which began in May, 2003 with an estimated budget of Rs 27.98 crore, are still not com-plete.
The stipulated date of completion of the work by Larsen and Tourbo Ltd was December 2005 and extended up to October, 2006. From 2006 after completion of 85 per cent work of the 1250 and 25% of the 800 capacity auditoriums, their construction�work came to a standstill and ultimately the contract with Larsen & Toubro Ltd. (L&T) was terminated on October 29, 2011(29.10.2011).
Even though the government sanctioned an amount of�Rs 9.04�crore for the remaining works, but L&T expressed their inability and pressed for clearing their pending dues.
Subsequently, in March, 2013 the State PWD submitted a revised estimate of Rs 8,30,5,200�to complete the 1250-capactiy auditorium, of which Rs 4.52 crore was, released to the Kalakshetra Society on July, 2011 from the Directorate of Cultural Affairs, Assam, but work is yet to commence.
During the last five years, Rs.11, 39, 62,502 has been released to the Kalakshetra Society for its various activities including this project by the Government.
It is alleged by certain sections that due to non-completion and non-functioning of the auditorium, the condition of the expensive fittings such as sound system, air conditioning system and other electrical fittings which have already been installed in the 1250 capacity auditorium, is fast deteriorating and they may soon become inoperative and unserviceable.
