VISAKHAPATNAM: The just-concluded study tour of GVMC corporators, which turned into a nightmare for them after they were caught in traffic on a ghat road due to landslides, raised many eyebrows. A 141-member contingent, including corporators, their family members and GVMC staff, which headed for a visit to smart cities Delhi, Shimla, Manali, Chandigarh, Agra, and Mathura on August 16 returned to the city on Tuesday.
All the cities chosen have Swachh Survekshan ranking lower than Vizag, which ranked ninth. None of the cities figured among the top 20 of Swachh Survekshan's rankings for 2021. Questions are raised over the need for the study tour when the corporation is facing a funds crunch. Above all, questions were raised over the inclusion of family members of the corporators.
Corporators and officials said a resolution was adopted at the GVMC council meeting held on August 10 to allow women corporators to take along either their spouses or children as it was a week-long tour. A total of 44 women corporators were accompanied by their spouses or children. However, deputy mayor Jiyyani Sridhar told TNIE that the family members were allowed to accompany the women corporators on the condition that they should bear the expenditure of their family members. The civic body earmarked Rs 1.33 crore for the study tour.
The corporators had to skip Chandigarh as they were delayed by more than 20 hours after they were trapped on a ghat road from Kullu to Chandigarh. The tour proposal was initially opposed by the CPM and some NGOs citing that it will be a futile exercise and a burden for the cash-strapped corporation. They said the cities chosen, barring Delhi, are smaller than Visakhapatnam.
According to officials, the primary objective of the tour by corporators was to study the best practices in solid waste management. They were also expected to study other development programmes being implemented in these cities. The last time a study tour was conducted was in February 2020 before the pandemic when GVMC officials along with a state-level delegation visited Indore, the cleanest city in India.
CPM corporate Ganga Rao told TNIE that the study tour was a waste of public money. The proposal was included in the agenda of the council meeting and ironically it was approved without a debate, he said. “At a time when the GVMC was resorting to increasing property tax and imposing garbage tax to fill the revenue deficit, it spent Rs 1.33 crore on the study tour. There is a provision for study tours, but it is not mandatory,” he pointed out. He also asked why tourist places such as Shimla and Kullu-Manali were chosen for a study trip. He added that he was not sure whether they would submit a report on the study tour to the council.
Jana Sena corporator Peetala Murthy Yadav questioned the study tour when most of the GVMC works were pending for want of funds. He said a smart road developed on Harbour Park road designed following an earlier study tour was mostly being used as parking places. “Any project should be designed to suit the local conditions otherwise they will be useless. The present study tour was nothing but a joy trip at the cost of public money,” he alleged.
Deputy Mayor Jiyyani Sridhar, who was also part of the study tour team, said they observed Vizag’s performance is better than these cities. Except for Delhi, where the municipal office is like a five-star hotel, the offices in other cities are not better than that in Vizag.
He said in Shimla they visited a dumping yard and witnessed a power-point presentation on waste segregation and compost preparation. In Delhi commercial development of lands and in Kullu Manali health and education were inspected. He said there was no family without a house in Kullu Manali.
Electricity and the road were provided even for a single house on a hilltop. They are ensuring the 24x7 water supply. He said only women corporators were allowed to bring one family member each for the study tour.BJP vice-president P Vishnu Kumar Raju said the corporators, most of whom are first-timers, need exposure. What they see should replicate in actions back in the city, he said.