RTI reveals around Rs. 11 crore wasted on Police Memorial
13 Nov, 2013
An application was filed with the Central Public Works Department under the Right to Information (RTI) Act seeking to get the details about the National Police Memorial in Chanakyapuri, New Delhi which was constructed in 2004 and dismantled in 2008.
The reply to the application, provided by the Public Information Officer (PIO), Development Project Circle, CPWD during the hearing of the case before the appellate authority, states that the construction of the memorial started on July 6, 2003, and stopped on April 10, 2004. The Ministry of Home Affairs spent Rs. 8,79,16,563 on the construction of the memorial and another Rs. 1,97,00,000 on its development.
However, the memorial had to be dismantled in 2008 because of heavy protests against the memorial as it was in Lutyens’ Delhi, a heritage site and its structure was not in consonance with the aesthetics of Lutyens’ Delhi and Rastrapati Bhawan and there was allegation that the Delhi Urban Arts Commission (DUAC) approved the construction under governmental pressure.
The reply says that in dismantling the structure, Ministry of Home Affairs had to spend another Rs. 21.78 lakhs. While the country looses a massive amount, nobody seems to be responsible for the gaffe. Further, no lessons seem to have been learnt to improve the procedure followed for the granting the approval for a structure in future.