Visakhapatnam: Corporators study tour draws criticism

Visakhapatnam: At a time when the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) is fund-strapped, it is organising a study tour for the corporators. The decision is drawing criticism from various quarters as the trip involves lakhs of rupees of the corporation.

The decision to spend huge amount for study tours is creating a negative impact on the corporation. The corporation officials mention that there are no funds to complete development works that fall under the jurisdiction of the corporation. But, allotting crores of rupees for the forthcoming tour turned out to be controversial.

The GVMC corporators decided to go on a study tour for a week from October 20 to 27. As part of the tour, they are scheduled to visit Coimbatore, Mysuru and Bengaluru in South India. Pointing out the trip, Jana Sena Party corporator Peethala Murthy Yadav mentioned that it has become common for GVMC officials to misuse public money for the purpose of study tours at a time when the corporation is incurring debts.

There are several issues to be fixed in all the 98 wards of the GVMC. They include, installation of streetlights, replacement of non-functional streetlights, improvement of basic amenities like roads, drainage system and safe drinking water, said Murthy Yadav, adding that the JSP is staying away from misusing the public funds by not participating in the tour.

Similarly, CPM floor leader, 78th ward corporator B Ganga Rao informed that he is also boycotting the tour. He mentioned that according to the tour schedule, the corporators would study on the management of drinking water, sewage systems and tax collection in these three cities. He pointed out that while the study tour stretches for eight long days, the time allotted for the purpose is not more than three hours. He alleged that the tour is completely dedicated to visit the tourist spots rather than studying best practices.

In 2022 and 2023, study trips were conducted in cities like Delhi, Shimla, Kulu Manali, Chandigarh, Srinagar, Amritsar, Jammu Kashmir and Agra to adopt safe drinking water supply, sanitation and sewage systems, among others. About Rs 1.50 crore was spent in 2022 and Rs 1.80 crore in the subsequent year. This year, the cost is likely to exceed Rs.2 crore. However, neither the study reports nor the discussion on the topics studied was carried out in any council meeting so far.