Karnataka Minister Asks Senior State Officials To Review Smart City Works In Belagavi

Karnataka’s Public Works Minister and district in-charge for Belagavi, Satish Jarkiholi has asked senior officials of the State government to review all the works taken up under the Smart City Mission.

According to information, officials from the departments of urban development, finance, and public works will examine the projects completed in Belagavi and investigate any claims of irregularities. To examine the many projects undertaken by the Mission, their technical requirements, financial viability, and to determine if officials and engineers have adhered to regulations, a committee of top officials will be established.

The minister informed the media that he will soon issue orders constituting the committee that will have members from various departments.

“There are serious allegations that officials have spent crores of rupees on unnecessary things, over-evaluated works and have carried out low quality work. Belagavi has got close to ₹1,000 crore till now. But only a few crore rupees is left unspent. We are not sure of the quality of works taken up. All these will be probed into,” he said.

It may be recalled that he conducted review meetings in Belagavi last week. 

His comments follow some meetings held in Belagavi in the last week. Officials informed Jarkiholi that some Smart City employees had begun working at the vaccine depot in the Belagavi South constituency without the knowledge or approval of the Department of Health and Family Welfare, which controls the urban forest. In this regard, the police have already reported some officials.

Jarkiholi and Minister Lakshmi Hebbalkar voiced opposition to some of the projects undertaken by the Mission earlier this month. They discussed the arbitrary selection of project locations, the lack of openness in project selection and tendering, the delayed progress of projects, and the scarcity of public consultations.

Jarkiholi has asked officials to speed up works at the Belagavi City Bus Stand complex and the Kalamandir Art Complex at Tilakawadi. He has also asked officials to utilise the Integrated Command and Control Centre that has facilities to unify the efforts of various departments, including the police, city corporation, health, transport and the Smart City Mission, to coordinate their activities.

Around Rs 930 crore are being spent on 102 works in the city. Of these, 96 works have been completed and six are in progress. As many as six works under private-public partnership mode have been started. Only one of them has been completed. A total of Rs 211 crore is being spent on these.