Trips to locales both foreign and within the country find favour among the officials and councillors of the Municipal Corporation as well as the UT Administration. However,over the years many ideas that these study tours have generated have not seen the light of the day. In cases where the ideas have been executed,these have not proven to be too successful. From tours of Europe to those closer home including Goa,Bombay,Gujarat,etc have often inspired the officials and councillors to come up with ideas to be implemented in the city. Most of these seem to be a justification for the trip being undertaken. The following are a few examples of the ideas that the trips generated:- UnderpassesA trip in the year 2007 to Belgium for studying underpasses was made by the then Finance Secretary S K Sandhu,Chief Architect Sunita Monga and Chief Engineer V K Bhardwaj. They mooted the proposal of construction of eight underpasses for the city. These are yet to see the light of the day. Rather the underpasses that are already present in the city are in a state of neglect. A few months after they returned from the trip Sandhu was repatriated to Punjab and Bhardwaj retired. The Chandigarh Housing Board is now looking at execution of the project. Hanging Flower PotsAnother idea produced after a junket was hanging potted plants from streetlight poles. Around three years back,the streetlight poles along Jan Marg and Madhya Marg could be seen dotted with hanging flower pots. The experiment failed after the plants dried up due to lack of irrigation. Watering the plants was difficult due to the height these were placed at. Some of the potted plants got stolen. Gradually these were removed from the poles. Sweeping MachinesThe utility of sweeping machines purchased at a cost of more than Rs 5 crore from Italy have been a matter of debate. The machines have a high recurring cost. These include the side brooms for the machines. Five brooms are used every month and the cost of each is around Rs 19,000. A team of officials of the Municipal Corporation including former Medical Officer of Health Dr G C Bansal and the then Joint Commissioner H S Kandhola went on a trip to Italy to see the machines even though similar machines had been available in Delhi. After the machines came to Chandigarh it was debated that these were not ideal for cleaning of roads. Fire AcademyThe councillors after a trip to Gujarat last year had mooted the idea of starting a fire academy in the city. The proposal however did not find favour with the officials. A committee was set up to study the feasibility of the proposal and it observed that fire academy was not an economically feasible option for the city. One of the reasons being that the population was less. Rather training could be provided to firemen through outsourcing. Sensory ParkTouted to be first of its kind of park in the country for the visually impaired the proposal was the product of the councillors to Singapore. While the park has been built it is similar to any park in the city. The aim of having facilities to cater to the visually impaired was not achieved. While the issue has been raised numerous times in the House,improvements are yet awaited. Garbage Processing PlantThe Garbage Processing Plant at Dadumajra was set up after a six-member team visited Germany to study the technology. The team comprised of both officials and councillors. Inaugurated in 2008,the functioning of the plant is still a contentious issue in the civic body.
