This story is from April 15, 2015

Deadline for ghats unlikely to be met

Call it an irony of sorts. The water resource department, headed by none other than Kumbh Mela minister Girish Mahajan, is fairing quite poorly in terms of meeting project deadline. The department has achieved barely 71% of its target of completing construction of the ghats on time for the grand congregation beginning in Nashik and Trimbakeshwar in July.
Deadline for ghats unlikely to be met
NASHIK: Call it an irony of sorts. The water resource department, headed by none other than Kumbh Mela minister Girish Mahajan, is fairing quite poorly in terms of meeting project deadline. The department has achieved barely 71% of its target of completing construction of the ghats on time for the grand congregation beginning in Nashik and Trimbakeshwar in July.

“As of now, the ghat construction work in Nashik has been completed to the extent of 80%, at Nashik Road 84% and in Trimbakeswhar, it is only 51%. We have started construction of six ghats with a total length of 2,830 m in Nashik and 900 m in Trimbakeshwar,” a senior official in the water resource department admitted.
The projects taken up by the water resource department have been lagging since the planning stage. At the time when district authorities had asked all departments to get their respective projects and tenders sanctioned by September 2013, the water resource department was still in the planning stage.
As of now, the water resource department is constructing 1,805 m of ghats at Nashik city (from Talkuteshwar till Tapovan and Takli), 795 m of ghats at Dasal Panchak and 870 m in Trimbakeshwar.
“Work on the site behind the tehsil office in Trimbakeshwar started only 15 days ago and this is going to be completed by May-end,” an official in the water resource department said, adding that availability of land delayed the work.
Behind the tehsil is the dumping ground of Trimbakeshwar town. The Trimbakeshwar town management had planned to shift the garbage depot to Kojuli village, but the plan was struck down by the National Green Tribunal (NGT).

“Since the plan was to shift the depot outside, the work on decomposition of the garbage was carried out on an as is-where is basis. But after the NGT struck down the plan, garbage has started piling on the same place again. In the meantime, the municipality cleared the land and gave it us for construction. We could start the construction work only after this. This 160-m ghat construction will take more than a month’s time and we are likely to finish it by May. Work on ghats stretching 352 meters has been completed and the work on other ghats (358 metes) is nearing completion,” the official said.
Trimbakeshwar — the co-host of Kumbh Mela along with Nashik — is prone to heavy rainfall, 2,994 mm on an annual average. Besides it is the first place in the district that experiences rain. Considering that the Kumbh Mela beginning on July 15, the major infrastructure projects have to be completed way before the onset of monsoon. The collector of Nashik had set April 15 as the deadline for all projects, with a grace period of April 30. “This is unlikely to be met as far as construction of these ghats goes,” said the official in the department of Mahajan, who is also the district guardian minister.
As far as the work on other ghats is concerned, the officer said it would be completed by the end of April. The only aspect that will take some more time are “the cosmetic changes and finishing touches” to the ghats. “All major infrastructure projects will be completed by April 30. The finishing touches will take another 20 days. By the end of May, we will hand over the ghats to the respective civic bodies,” he added.
End of Article
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA