Majority of works lagging, Chief Secy issues ultimatum

With some of the major Kumbh-2013 related works still lagging behind, Chief Secretary Javed Usmani issued a stern warning to the officials asking them to complete all pending works by December 31. Usmani told the officials that action would be taken against them for failing to meet the deadline and this may include proceedings for termination of service.

The chief secretary issued the warning during a review meeting of Kumbh-related works with various departments here at Circuit House on Wednesday.

While the Kumbh Mela officially begins on January 14, 2013, the akharas have already entered the arena and all of them would have set up their bases around a week before the actual start. Earlier, various departments have missed several deadlines since September.

According to a district administration spokesperson, the chief secretary also directed the officials to put emphasis on making the city look prepared for the big event and have adequate and proper signages put up all across for the benefit of the devotees.

Two of the major works that should have been completed by now were construction of all the 18 pontoon bridges across Ganga and Yamuna in place. Out of these only eight have been completed. The Public Works Department officials assured the Chief Secretary that remaining 10 would be completed by November 25. Usmani directed the PWD chief engineer to get all the pontoon bridges completed before December 31 and carry out a joint inspection with the Inspector General of Police (Allahabad zone) to have a fair idea of where to station the troops on these bridges for keeping an eye on crowd movement.

Also, the PWD officials were directed to complete the laying down of checkered plates, which are essential for vehicle movement in the sand on the river bed, by December 31. Usmani was told that, out of 158 km of checkered plates that were to be laid down, only 68 km of checkered plates have been laid so far.

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