The State government has constituted a one-man committee comprising P.W.C. Davidar, a retired IAS officer, to inquire into the implementation of the Smart Cities Mission across the State. Constituted on February 11, the panel is to submit its report within three months.
Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, while replying to a question on flooding in T. Nagar during November rain, announced on the floor of the Assembly in January that an inquiry commission would be constituted to look into alleged irregularities in the implementation of the Smart Cities Mission in Chennai during the AIADMK regime.
According to a Government Order, the committee would look into whether the selection of works under the Smart Cities Mission was in accordance with the guidelines and the extent to which the work selected impacted the development of Smart Cities as envisaged in the Mission guidelines.
It would inquire into whether the Smart Cities Special Purpose Vehicles were set up and functioned in accordance with the guidelines and whether the government grants under the Mission were released and utilised as per the guidelines.
“Whether due procedure was followed in the award of contracts for the works under the Mission? (vi)Whether adequate measures were taken to ensure the quality of works implemented under the Mission?” are among the terms of reference for the panel.
It would probe whether any major flaws had been pointed out by the statutory authorities in the implementation of the Mission work and action taken on it. It would look at “factors/individuals responsible for deviation, flaws in implementation and other issues, if any, as identified by the Committee.”
It would recommend suggestions for implementing such missions/schemes in future considering larger public interest. The inquiry report was expected to be submitted to the government within three months.
The Union government launched the Smart Cities Mission on June 25, 2015 with the aim of creating 100 smart cities throughout the country in five years through inter-State and intra-State competitions.
Eleven cities were selected under this Mission in Tamil Nadu — Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Thanjavur, Salem, Vellore, Tiruppur, Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli, Tiruchi and Erode.
Under the Smart Cities Mission, the Union and the State governments share the project cost equally. Of the 644 projects sanctioned at a cost of ₹10,651 crore, 257 projects at a cost of ₹2,327.86 crore had been completed.
While 339 projects, involving an expenditure of ₹7,947.50 crore, were under implementation, 10 projects estimated at ₹153.97 crore were under tender evaluation, the G.O. said.
Tenders had been called for two projects at a cost of ₹12.64 crore and a tender was to be called for 11 projects at a cost of ₹47.51 crore. Thirteen projects were under Detailed Project Report appraisal at a cost of ₹109.23 crore and 12 projects were under Detailed Project Report preparation at a cost of ₹52.29 crore, according to the G.O.
