Smart City Mission works move slowly in Warangal

Particularly, the incomplete smart roads taken up under the project are causing much inconvenience to commuters, thanks to the apathy of officials.

Warangal: The slow pace of development works taken up under the Centre-sponsored Smart City Mission (SCM) project under the Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation (GWMC) is irking the people.

Particularly, the incomplete smart roads taken up under the project are causing much inconvenience to commuters, thanks to the apathy of officials. The project was sanctioned about five years ago, and should have been completed by December 2021.

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According to GWMC officials, only 26 works worth Rs.39.20 crore were completed so far, while 36 works worth Rs.909.35 crore were under progress. Though there were different reasons for the delayed execution of the works, officials said the Centre was not releasing funds.

But the citizens are of the opinion that differences between the State and Centre were causing the delay in releasing funds thus causing a delay in execution of the SCM.

President of Forum for Better Warangal Pulluru Sudhakar said the GWMC had failed to submit the utilization certificates (UC) for the funds released by the Centre. “Since the GWMC did not submit the UCs, the Centre is not releasing the funds,” he said, and asked the State government to release the matching grants to expedite the works.

However, Warangal West MLA Dasyam Vinay Bhaskar said the State government had granted a matching grant of Rs.110 crore recently, and hoped that the works would be sped up. The aim of the SCM was to transform Warangal into an economic hub with focus on livable, citizen-friendly and well-governed cities by using smart technologies.

LEA Associates South Asia Pvt Ltd, which prepared the detailed project report (DPR) on the Smart City Mission (SCM), included 101 components worth Rs 2,306 crore.