Himachal Govt to probe rigging in smart city project, members asked to submit complaints in writings 

Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu assured the house today that if misuse of public money has been done in the Shimla and Smart City Project the rigging allegations would be probed.

In replying to a question from MLA Sudhir Sharma Chief Minister said that the member should inform him in writing and being the minister in charge of the Urban Development department he would ensure the charging of rigging in the smart city project.

He said that members being incharge of the same department previously knew about the project and that money was received from the Center under the Dharamshala Smart City Scheme under his tenure as UD minister.  On this, the Chief Minister said that till now a budget of Rs 500 crore has come from the Central Government under various schemes under the Dharamshala Smart City Scheme, on which Rs 490 crore has been received.  Out of this, a budget of Rs 396.75 crore has been spent.  Sudhir Sharma demanded an investigation into the quality of the work done under the project.  The Chief Minister said that the government for the time being suspended all construction in the smart city project due to recent loss caused to houses by the heavy rainfall. He said that the Government analyzed the work done by the previous government by putting pressure on the officials. CM said that today the situation of the town is so bad that the capital town Shimla has become a ‘steel smart city’.  The Chief Minister admitted that there were irregularities in the work done under the project but if MLAs had been informed about it to him he would verify it from the fact before ordering the probe.
 Shimla MLA Harish Janartha also raised the issue of Shimla Smart City in a supplementary question and wanted to know from the government how many works have been canceled here and where their budget has been spent.  From whom has approval been taken for this? He said that all the debris from the landslide caused by the disaster was dumped into the drains due to which the drainage system here has been filled with muck.  

He wanted assurance from the government that the remaining technical work of the project should not be given permission to non-technical people but should be approved by technical people.