145;Admn creating cities between a city146;

The revelation was made by Hemant Goswami of the Burning Brain Society during a citizen8217;s meet organised by the Chandigarh Farmers Welfare and Environment Protection Society, Citizen8217;s Voice, Burning Brain Society and the Society for Crime and Corruption.

All mega projects in the city are under a scanner after anomalies surfaced in most of them. This was followed with a demand to initiate a high-level inquiry into these projects and to remove General S F Rodrigues as UT Administrator.

Goswami said the file for the Film City received clearance from all the offices on March 7, 2006. The Expression of Interest was invited and within a few days all hurdles in the way of the project were cleared. Thereafter, another project, the Theme Park, was also approved in no time.

8220;While there are files that do not receive approval even after a year, the mega projects were cleared in a matter of days. The Administration is forgetting the basic concept of the city. Cities within the city are being created be it the Medicity, Educity or the Film City. There is a nexus of the bureaucrats as well as the developers working here. We are not satisfied with the working of the political parties, including the Congress and BJP. If they wanted, these problems could have been nipped in the bud. The city is becoming a city of scams,8221; said Goswami.

S S Brar, former director general of police, Haryana, said having the post of UT Administrator itself was a mistake. 8220;Even during militancy, there was no need to create this post. Having a chief commissioner is a better option for the city,8221; he added.

8220;The Administration has acquired land all over. The way the development of the city is taking place, it would be a failed city rather than a heritage city,8221; Brar said.

S S Bhatti, former principal of the Chandigarh College of Architecture, said development and urban planning of any city was the subject matter of experts and should not be done by untrained and insensitive bureaucrats.

Speaking on the occasion, Lt Gen B S Randhawa Retd stated that had there been development with honest intentions and proper planning, all the people would have supported such activities. Questioning the intentions of the Centre as well, General Randhawa alleged that the nexus goes up to the Home Ministry and the Union Government 8220;otherwise what is the justification behind them keeping mum despite everything being so open8221;.

Vivek Aditya, an international expert in financial regulations, explained the exact illegalities done by the Administration in Film City and other such projects with the help of a 1,000-page document.