A girls’ hostel with capacity of 200 on Freedom Park road is awaiting its inauguration. Public Works Department (PWD) completed the work but sources disclosed that the Higher Education Department, under which it comes, has not taken its possession, for the reasons best known to it. A senior PWD official, on the condition of anonymity, told ‘The Hitavada’, “The project got delayed because of fund crunch and the change in policy due to change in State leadership. Somehow our department completed the project and made it livable. Surprisingly, the Higher Education Department is not taking its possession despite our constant follow-up.

 

In fact, it was used during the Winter Session of State Legislature for the staff that comes from Mumbai.” The project was announced by Prithviraj Chavan Government in 2014 to mark the birth centenary of late Vasantrao Naik, ex-Chief Minister of Maharashtra. The project was for Higher and Technical Education Department. Subsequent Joint Directors of Nagpur region of the department kept taking stock of the situation but to no avail. The project cost was pegged at more than Rs 5 crore. CM Fadnavis took serious cognisance of several pending projects and this girls hostel was one of those. With the push from Fadnavis, the project got momentum and it started in the year 2017. It was to be completed in 2019. Majority construction work was done but the contractor suddenly stopped it citing the reason of difference of cost that was quoted in 2014 and that of 2019.

 

The building with rooms was ready but not in the condition where someone could stay. With Maha Vikas Aaghadi (MVA) came to the power, the project gathered dust. Again in the year 2022, ‘The Hitavada’ raised the issue. Atul Deshkar, the then in-charge of the project from PWD had told ‘The Hitavada’, “Two years of COVID-19 pandemic brought all the works to a standstill including the projects being monitored by PWD.” According to a retired senior official of PWD, all the funds of the department were diverted for healthcare. Obviously, PWD was not able to clear the bills of the contractors.

 

Meanwhile, PWD fixed a fine of Rs 1,000 per day on the company that was handling the project of girls hostel. The company refused to pay the fine as it said once project starts the fine would be adjusted. PWD too agreed to it. But the issue has remained unresovled as the project is lying incomplete. It sounds like the project has faced a series of delays due to funding issues, changes in Government policies, and internal bureaucratic hurdles. The story has several layers, from the initial announcement in 2014 to its current state of being incomplete and awaiting inauguration.