KOLHAPUR: The members of heritage committee of Kolhapur city faced the flak from the city-based activists for stalling of the development work of the Panchaganga river ghat.
Three years ago, the state government had approved Rs 27 crore to develop the historic ghat of the Panchaganga river and had released Rs 5 crore to take up the civil works. The public works department (PWD) is the execution authority of the project and the activists blamed the members of heritage committee for stalling of the work.
During the meeting held on Monday and chaired by Kolhapur Member of Parliament (MP) Sanjay Mandlik, the activists claimed that the heritage committee has not revealed the queries raised by the citizens regarding over the project.
The activists went on to claim that there are no written objections reagrding the project and the ambitious project is stalled due to vested interests. Heritage committee head architect Amarja Nimbalkar and secretary Ramchandra Mahajan failed to submit the queries to Mandlik.
Ramesh More, convenor of the activists forum, said, “The MP has asked the authorities to start the first phase of the project by August. He also took the responsibility to get permissions from the archeology and other government departments. The heritage committee earlier had stalled various projects from the city, but we did not relent and ensured the projects get completed. The government has written to the PWD to revert the funds if the project work does not begin at the earliest.”
The project involves restoring the heritage structures of the ghat, bring the submerged structure such as temples to the fore along with developing the premise which is spread over 10 acre.
Mandlik said he will again call a meeting on Thursday to review the documentation of the project. He was angry over the objections raised by the heritage committee when the project plan got approved and the work tendered three years ago.
