PONDA: Former chief minister Ravi Naik on Sunday demanded an investigation into the “exorbitant cost” of renovating the Kranti Maidan in Ponda.
The renovation work was proposed by Naik’s political rivals former PWD minister Sudin Dhavalikar and Ponda MLA Lavoo Mamledar and the same was launched by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar in 2013.
Addressing a press conference in Ponda, Ravi said, “Prior to the renovation, the Kranti Maidan was used by all religious groups to celebrate festivals like Ganesh and Christmas. But the renovation work has destroyed its beauty with the open space being used for construction in the name of renovation due to which religious functions are celebrated on roadside, creating traffic chaos.”
He claimed that the Ponda Municipal Council had provided NOC only for beautification of the Kranti Maidan, instead the PWD went beyond the terms of the NOC and carried out unwanted renovation works by cutting several trees without permission of forest department.
He said as per an RTI information obtained by him, PWD appointed Abijeet Sadhle as the consultant for the project as well as for traffic management project and paid him fees of Rs 13.17 lakh which is 4 percent of the total cost for renovation work.
Ravi said Rs 4.23 crore was sanctioned by government for the renovation work, but after the consultant’s advise that amount rose to Rs 4.86 crore, which, according to Ravi, must be decided and sanctioned by the Department and not on advice of the consultant.
He also alleged that the PWD carried out the renovation work of Kranti Maidan without acquiring the land and without completing proper formalities.
