GUWAHATI, Nov 25 � Former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA), A Sengupta, today raised doubts on whether the Guwahati Development Department has been working for the benefit of the people of the city or for a few individuals.
Sengupta alleged that the Department has not been taking the problems of the citizens into consideration while chalking out plans and schemes and some schemes, which would not benefit the citizens in any way, are being executed spending substantial amounts of money.
The retired IAS officer pointed out that the second overbridge in Panbazar was not constructed in a well planned manner and the problem of waterlogging would aggravate because of the faulty design. He pointed out that no new drainage scheme has been taken up during the construction of the bridge and even the existing drains are now clogged, which led to severe waterlogging problem in Panbazar and Lakhtokia areas of the city. It seems that the ecological assessment impact study was not carried out while designing the bridge, he pointed out.
The Government was planning to create a proper parking place near the Panbazar overbridge but the new bridge was designed in such a way that there would be no space for construction of a car parking bay in the area. At the same time, the lack of proper garbage disposal system resulted in outbreak of various diseases in Guwahati city.
Though there were demands for foot overbridges from the people of different localities, the Government failed to pay heed to the demands and such a bridge in the Lachitnagar area is under construction for the past six years. The lack of streetlights in most of the roads including lanes, and bye lanes resulted in crimes and accidents but the Guwahati Development Department totally overlooked the problem, he added.
Sengupta further alleged that the Government spent a substantial amount to construct a luxury guest house, which would not benefit the common people in any way and the money should have been spent to implement schemes which would he beneficial for citizens of Guwahati.
