The Chandigarh civic body will be redeveloping what seems to an already developed green belt including the plush Bougainvillea Garden citing that "the sites need development". Agendas for the same will be brought for a final nod in the finance and contract committee meeting scheduled for Tuesday. While an amount of Rs 49.71 lakh is proposed to be spent on the redevelopment of the Bougainvillea Garden, Rs 44.18 lakh is being spent in redeveloping a green belt in Sector 30. A proposal for a footpath in Sector 44 at a cost of Rs 30 lakh, citing poor condition of the existing one, will also be put forth before the panel. It was stated that “The garden at the site has been visited by the executive engineer with concerned SDE and JE and they observed that there is need for redevelopment of this garden. Accordingly, a rough cost estimate amounting to Rs 49.71 lakh has been prepared and submitted for arranging administrative approval and allotment of funds under the appropriate head of accounts”. Pallav Mukherjee, former councillor said that Bougainvillea Garden does not need redevelopment at such a high cost. “Almost half a crore is going to be blown in the wind to re-develop the garden. Does the city even need this kind of flagrant waste of our taxes? Redeveloping an already developed garden doesn’t require so much funds,” he said. The scope of work includes demolishing cement concrete and brick work, dismantling, repair and re-fixing of existing railing, dismantling of steel work, planting of bougainvillea of different varieties, etc., it was said. Buy Now | Our best subscription plan now has a special price It was stated that the proposal has been framed for redevelopment of the green belt for fixing tree guards, gymnastic equipment, pipe benches, landscaping work through ornamental plants, flowering shrubs, demolishing existing paver tracks, and construction of cement walking track in the park. All of these would be done under landscaping costs. “Besides this, the area councillor Taruna Mehta has also requested to carry out redevelopment work for this green belt. Accordingly, a rough cost estimate has been prepared and submitted for arranging administrative approval and allotment of funds under appropriate head of accounts,” it was stated.
