Non-functional equipment leaves ADB team annoyed

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, November 26

An Asian Development Bank (ADB) team has lodged a complaint with the government over non-utilisation of 1,000 handcarts and 300 rickshaws procured by the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) under ADB funding for sanitation purposes.

An ADB team visited Srinagar last week to review the work on projects funded by the bank here, said an official on condition of anonymity.

He said the team visited the Achan landfill site and found that 1,000 handcarts and 300 rickshaws, which had been procured under ADB funding and provided to the SMC through the Jammu and Kashmir Economic Reconstruction Agency for providing better sanitation facilities to the public in Srinagar were lying idle and had been gathering rust.

Later, during a meeting with the Chief Secretary and officials of the SMC, the official said the ADB expressed serious concern over the matter.

“The ADB has further made it clear that if the SMC does not repair and put the equipment to use, the full loan amount spent on the procurement, which was approximately Rs 2.6 crore, will haveto be refunded to the ADB,” he said.

The team maintained that infrastructure, tools and equipment that had been procured from ADB funds should ‘necessarily be utilised from Day One’ for public good.

The official said the equipment had been procured in September 2014 on the request of the SMC, but had not been utilised by the corporation.