Kothagudem: ‘Wastage of money’ irks councillors

Irked councillors say money being spent on useless projects due to lack of proper planning, vision

Kothagudem: Wasting of taxpayers’ money by the Kothagudem municipal council and officials here has been irking councillors as well as the public here.

The municipal officials have developed greenery by spending huge amounts of money in planting evergreen, weeping figs also known as the ficus plants on a traffic median from Post Office centre to RTC bus stand area sometime back.

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As the stray cattle started grazing unprotected plants the officials reacted late and erected metal fencing on either side of the median spending over Rs 20 lakh to protect the plants. Now, both the plants and the fencing were removed to develop the median by increasing its height.

When contacted, Kothagudem Municipality DE, Naveen informed Telangana Today that they have planned to increase the median height to 2.5 feet from the existing one feet height. The existing median was constructed by National Highways authorities as part of expansion of the road.

The plants removed from the median have been planted at different places and proper care was being taken to protect them. The fencing might be used wherever it was required, he noted. But his explanation has not satisfied the councillors.

“During a council meeting six months ago we opposed a proposal to erect metal fencing on either side of the road dividers since Rs 2.5 crore was already allotted at that time to develop the medians by increasing their height,” 10th ward councillor, M Padma and others said.

CPI leader, Sabeer Pasha alleged that in the name of development both the municipal council and the officials have been wasting the public money. A protest at Kothagudem Municipality office would soon be staged to express displeasure over wasting of public money on useless projects, he said.

‘Huge amounts of taxpayers’ money were being wasted on useless projects because of lack of proper planning and vision. Many recently executed development projects were being demolished in the name of development and it was highly objectionable’ said a resident A Vasu.

He felt that no person with a sane mind would uproot plants in peak summer. So much money was spent on their purchase and maintenance all these days. And there was no guarantee the plants would survive.

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