No trip to Goa, UT admin instead approves ‘study tour’ to Indore & Nagpur

Yadav, in turn, had sent back the file back to the UT municipal corporation with multiple queries, one of which read “how and why is this tour unique.”

On Tuesday, Mayor Sarabjit Kaur and Deputy Mayor, Anup Gupta were summoned by the Chandigarh Administrator regarding the proposed study tour to Goa and Mumbai.

Sharing details of their meeting, mayor Sarbjit Kaur Dhillon, said that Purohit had encouraged the councillors to go on the study tour but stated that they must visit “progressive cities to get maximum exposure and ensure that the learnings can be brought backa dn implemented in Chandigarh.”

“The Administrator was of the opinion that the delegation must visit Indore, which was ranked 1 among all cities in the last Swacch Survekshan, and learn from the good practices there. He further suggested that they should visit the state-of-art bio methanation plant at Indore, which was recently inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and study the suitability of replicating the same in the city. Purohit further said that the councillors should visit the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur, which is a pioneer in the field of waste management and water bodies rejuvenation,” a statement issued by the civic body on Tuesday said.

The statement further added that the mayor stating that NEERI was the technical consultant for not just the Goa Solid Waste Management Plant, but also the Clean Ganges project.

“The Administrator has granted permission for the delegation of councillors to visit the cities of Indore and Nagpur and has directed them to table a study report within one month of the visit,” the statement said.

The statement further reads, “The UT mayor further believes that visiting different parts of the country broadens the horizons of the councillors and leaves a lasting impact on their working styles.

The councilors of the civic body must go on exposure visits to different parts of country as they can learn from others and implement their good practices in Chandigarh.”

Officials in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation said that now a meeting will be held to decide on the dates of the tour to the two Indore and Nagpur, as well as consent will be sought from councillors willing to undertake the trip.

The Chandigarh civic body in a House meeting last month had not only approved a study tour to Goa, but had added an additional day of stay in the coastal state, besides also adding Mumbai to the itinerary. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had not voted in favour of the study tour during the House meeting, while councillors from the BJP and Congress along with a SAD councillor had.

AAP councillor Jasbir Singh had in a letter later even told the Municipal Commissioner that this study tour was a criminal wastage of public money.