Residents have started questioning the need for the authority to construct these projects by spending taxpayers’ hard-earned money. As authority got failed to use seven multicrore projects that were completed long.
The cricket stadium was inaugurated in 2016 but is deemed not to be of international standard nor fit to host IPL. Officials say it should not have been built as the authority cannot bear the maintenance cost if… “The Noida authority spent around ₹400 crore on seven projects without any immediate requirement for the same. The projects were conceived just to make a commission from the hefty budgets allocated for these,” said Manoj Kumar, a resident of Sector 12.
The projects pertain to a cricket stadium and indoor stadium in Sector 21A, a home for women and juveniles in Sector34, a girls’ hostel in Sector 62, a club in Sector 27, an underground parking facility in Sector95 and an affordable flats scheme in Sector 122 for rehabilitating slum dwellers who were living on government land in Sector 8.The authority spent ₹83.25 crore on the construction of a cricket stadium with a seating capacity of 25,000 inside the Noida Stadium campus in Sector 21. However, the facility is of no use to budding cricketers or locals who want to make use of the stadium“Neither is this cricket stadium of international standards nor is it meant for Indian Premier League matches. Then, why did the authority waste funds and land inside the campus?” said Raghuraj Singh, a Congress leader.
The Noida authority’s chief executive officer (CEO) Alok Tandon has directed the respective project engineers to explain why these projects were constructed.“The CEO has asked the additional chief executive officers and the chief engineer to prepare an action plan on all projects lying unused in Noida. The deadline for making the action plan is 15 days,” said Manmohan Mishra, financial controller of the Noida authority.
“The CEO wants engineers to prepare an action plan on how these projects can be put to better use and to earn revenue from their operations. The CEO has asked project engineers to go through the detailed project report of each project to ascertain the purpose of these projects,” Mishra said.“Since these projects are lying unused, the authority is spending a huge amount on maintenance. The authority will not have to spend this sum on maintenance if they become operational,” said Mishra.
