Drainage in, waterlogging out in Karnal

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, October 16

Only a few of the announcements made by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar have been undertaken on the ground while no headway has been made in a majority of them.

When the government assumed office, residents had a lot of expectations for a positive change.

After getting overwhelming support in all five Assembly seats in the district, including his segment, the Chief Minister showed his gratitude by making more than 100 announcements for the district.

These included an inter-state bus terminus, a local bus stand, a medical university in Kutail, a horticulture university in Anjanthali, two bypasses, an NCC academy in Araipura, a degree college for the deaf and dumb and four-laning of the Karnal-Indri road.

Residents of the city have been lauding the government for providing permanent relief from stagnating rainwater through drainage.

The government had shifted the vegetable market, but after a lull for a few days, encroachment by vendors had become common, leading to traffic chaos.

No work had been done after an announcement was made to shift dairies out of the city. The city bus service remains a distant dream.

For social reform at the panchayat level, the Chief Minister had announced setting up of social audit committees, but no committee had been constituted.

Prof YK Kahl, a retired lecturer, said the Chief Minister should take feedback from citizens about development works. The government had taken several steps to control corruption prevalent in the system.

A BJP worker said on the condition of anonymity that bureaucrats had paid no heed to grievances of workers while turncoats had been enjoying power.

He said the Chief Minister had made efforts to fill the gap between government and workers by reaching out to them at their houses over tea parties and holding dinner parties at his residence in Chandigarh.

Former Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Sharma said no major development or visible change had been seen so far and corruption was rampant in the constituency of the Chief Minister.

He said no major project was announced for Karnal. Due to non-development, Karnal was not in the first 60 smart cities, he said.

Manoj Wadhwa, Deputy Mayor who had contested the elections against Khattar, claimed that no visible change had been witnessed.

He said announcements had been made, but no concrete work was undertaken.

The crime graph in the district had been witnessing a surge and the law and order situation had been deteriorating at an alarming rate, he added.