Housing and environment minister of Chhattisgarh, Om Prakash Choudhary, has issued an order to revoke ten projects worth a total of Rs 218 crore that were awarded to ‘Raipur Construction Limited’ which is owned by Mohammad Asghar, the brother of former Congress cabinet minister Mohammad Akbar.
The BJP minister stated that poor performance and a protracted delay in concluding the construction project work, most of which is to be completed under the smart city project in Chhattisgarh’s new capital, Nava Raipur-Atal Nagar, were the reasons for withdrawing the agreement.
Choudhary said, “The agreements of Rs 218 crore for 10 major works have been cancelled. The contracts were awarded to an executing agency Raipur Construction Ltd, which is managed by a relative of a former senior Congress minister. The Congress government had been giving extension after extension to the firm that was also served with notices to conclude the given projects in the given target time. But it didn’t comply, so we took stringent action against the agency revoking the contract work orders.”
The minister announced that his administration would not put up with sub-par work from any business or contractors. He noted that extra caution needs to be taken to guarantee that all initiatives are completed on time.
When asked if the company was connected to Mohammad Akbar’s family who had previously served as state housing and environment minister in the Bhupesh Baghel administration, the BJP minister responded that it was a serious concern. He said that he learned about it and had an internal team look into the matter thoroughly before deciding to cancel the Rs 218 crore projects.
Furthermore, Mohammad Asghar was hired despite breaking the guidelines.
The newly elected BJP government has given orders to wrap up all projects by their respective deadlines and appears to be moving swiftly to create Nava Raipur, the new smart city capital. The deadline for finishing the outstanding projects in various cities under the Smart City Mission has been extended by the Center until June 2024. The administration headed by Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai issued directions to complete all projects by the due date.
Greater Raipur will serve as the model for the development of Nava Raipur, Raipur, and Durg-Bhilai. The State Capital Region is planned to be structured similarly to the National Capital Region. A plan has been formulated and the government decided to move forward with the project which will facilitate easy access from Nava Raipur to Raipur and Durg-Bhilai. Residential and commercial sectors will be constructed in conjunction with the development of the area’s infrastructure.
