Kolhapur
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River linking ushers growth
Kolhapur civic administration has taken up many ambitious projects, thanks to the initiatives by Vijay Singhal, municipal commissioner. He recently received an award from the Prime Minister for the river-linking project he had taken up during his stint at Jalgaon
Correspondent
Moving fast on the growth track, Kolhapur has come a long way. City's face is changing with good roads, flyovers and well-maintained gardens. Civic amenities are also moving up the chart. The civic administration has taken up several ambitious projects, which are set to contribute to overall development of the city in a big way.
Vijay Singhal, municipal commissioner, has been leading from the front. He has been in the thick of things in developing the modern-day Kolhapur while keeping its cultural heritage intact. This gold medallist civil engineer from IIT Roorkee and M Tech from IIT Delhi recently received award in administrative excellence from Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. It was bestowed on him for the riverlinking project during his stint in Jalgaon.
He is a person who knows how to convert challenges into opportunities. In 2005, when many parts of the state were witnessing floods, Jalgaon district was reeling under drought. Seven tehsils of the district were largely affected. Rivers and nallahs were going dry and consequently, water reservoirs were empty and groundwater level was depleting while in the neighbouring Nasik district, the Girna dam was overflowing. Singhal implemented a project to divert the Girna dam spillover to water-scarce regions of Jalgaon by interlinking rivers.
He not only achieved interlinking of rivers but also linked diverse interests of all stakeholders. He was instrumental in marshalling the resources from the irrigation department, state government and people's representatives. The transparency in the planning process and stakeholder consultations allowed the project to gain wider acceptance.
He also involved citizens in that project. "The villagers willingly parted with parts of their land to enable the interlinking of rivers. The fact that not a single voice was raised in opposition to the project is a testimony to the success of the participatory approach in planning," says Singhal.
The project solved drinking water problems of one municipal corporation, five municipal councils and 123 villages. The irrigated area also increased from 13,000 hectares in 2005 to 30,000 hectares in 2008.
"The administrative cost was just Rs three crore while the project is giving benefit worth Rs 40 crore annually. The Maharashtra Government issued a circular to other districts to study this model. It was also sent to secretaries and irrigation departments of various states," adds Singhal.
The department of administrative reforms, Government of India, has identified the project as a model one and as one of the success stories of Indian public administration. The government also directed to send documentation to the Parliament, secretaries and irrigation departments of various states, he says.
Singhal was called by Vasundhara Raje Scindhia, the then chief minister of Rajasthan, to share his experience in implementing the project. He was also invited by the Australian government to present the project at the 9th International River Symposium 2006 held in Brisbane and attended by about 550 delegates over 50 countries. He also presented the project details at an international conference in China in 2007. He was also invited by the state university of New York, USA, in 2009 to present this project. Besides the coveted award for excellence, the river-linking project also bagged Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar National Fellowship Award of the National Bharatiya Sahitya Academy of India.
Of course, he doesn't live on past laurels. "In fact, this award has increased my responsibility. At Kolhapur, we have undertaken a number of ambitious projects that will change the face of this culturally rich city. My priority is to facilitate this transformation."
It is essential that Kolhapur, the second-most important commercial centre in Pune division, gets this infrastructure in place if it wants to get reckoned with developing cities like Nagpur and Nasik. "We have already started upgrading infrastructure with commencement of the Rs 500 crore Integrated Road Development Plan. Though the work was stalled for six to seven months due to tree felling issue, it's in full swing and would be completed on time. We have deployed more machinery and pumped in extra resources. A number of rating agencies have appreciated the work," informs Singhal.
The state government has launched Nagar Utthan Scheme in January. "Of the total around Rs 400 crore sanctioned for the scheme, Kolhapur would be getting Rs 216 crore. We have also received funds of Rs 75 crore from the National River Conservation Project for cleaning Panchaganga river," the municipal commissioner adds.
Singhal has also presented proposal worth Rs 2,099 crore to the state Government for holy city development project. "The proposal will be first presented to the state government and will be forwarded for Centre's consideration. If sanctioned, this project will help in development on lines of Nanded."
The civic body is also concentrating on the preserving the city's heritage and Rankala Lake tops the list. "Rankala work is being done under the National Lake Conservation Plan. It includes checking pollution from point and non-point sources, catchment area treatment, desilting and weed control et al," he says. In fact, desilting of the lake was done for the first time after construction of the lake 100 years ago.
Panchganga pollution has been another major concern for the city for nearly three decades. With him at the helm, Rs 116 crore have been earmarked to address the issue. Another Rs 160 crore have been sanctioned for water supply and drainage line works. The city sanitation plan is being prepared and housing for poor under the IHSDP is also in progress. We are also laying emphasis on traffic management and parking issues, the municipal commissioner says.
In one year's time, Singhal avers, one would witness a new Kolhapur. The city is also one of the three cities in the state to be selected for pilot phase of Centre's service level benchmarking scheme. "Under this, we would be undertaking works related to water supply, drainage lines, storm water drainage systems and solid waste management. All these projects combined will give a facelift to the city," he concludes.
The recognition
Vijay Singhal recently received award in administrative excellence from Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. It was bestowed on him for the river-linking project during his stint in Jalgaon. The department of administrative reforms, Government of India, has identified the project as a model one and as one of the success stories of Indian public administration. The government also directed to send documentation to the Parliament, secretaries and irrigation departments of various states.
