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5.2.11

For NIT, it's business first lake later

The Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT) on Friday unveiled what it billed as city's first food court, entertainment and recreation plaza built on public-private partnership (PPP) basis at Sakkardara Lake. Yet, even as it did that the question of reviving the 227-year-old water body remained in balance.


The plaza is one of the mega-BOT experiment and it was commissioned by Maharashtra public works department (PWD) and tourism minister Chhagan Bhujbal. He flew to Nagpur in a special plane to dedicate the plaza with the Bollywood theme. It will have everything including open air theatre and banquet hall, multi-cuisine restaurant, ice-cream parlour, toy train, automatic cricket machine, games, dashing car, musical show, astrology etc.


Ahead of Bhujbal's visit, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) had ensured that the garbage in the lake was cleaned to give some comfort to the high-profile minister. The historic lake was constructed by Raghuji Bhonsle II in 1784.


The NMC workers strove hard to remove heaps of garbage out of the lake but could not please Bhujbal. When the minister walked through the site, he was disturbed to see the amount of garbage in the lake. Even a few ducks released in a small portion of the water failed to make him happy.


What Bhujbal saw was reflected in his speech. Addressing the crowd, he said: "The project is good and we should praise it. But the lake is unclean. People must have some civic sense and should not dump garbage in it. They should understand water adds to the beauty of any place."


What Bhujbal said was supported by NIT trustee Sudhakar Kohle who too said that many drains flowed into the lake making it dirty. "The NIT has not gone beyond desilting the lake. There is a need to revive it," Kohle added.


What Bhujbal and Kohle said was true as neither NIT nor NMC ever made any efforts to restore the lake. Passers-by and slum-dwellers attend nature's call at the lake and nearby residents dump garbage in it.


Sanjay Mukherjee, chairman of NIT, said Rs 1.65 crore proposal has been sent to the government for beautification of the lake that includes a water filtration plant, boating, fountains etc. Similar plans, launched a few years ago, have gone haywire and fountains are missing and damaged boats are lying idle.


The project dates back to 2002, when NIT had planned to set up 68 shops at Sakkardara. The Trust later thought selling shops will not add value to the area and changed its mind by coming up with an entertainment plaza. There were three bidders, with city hotelier Centre Point making highest bid. The lease has been granted for 10 years.


Talking to waiting mediamen, Bhujbal said plans were afoot to boost eco-tourism in the region with the help of forest department. However, he was non-committal on how much money would be spent on projects to develop tourism in 2011-12, which has been declared as 'Year of Tourism' by Maharashtra.


PLAZA PLUSES


* Based on Bollywood theme


* An open air theatre


* Multi-cuisine restaurant


* Musical fountains


* Open air banquet hall


* Music shows


* Toy train


* Dashing cars


* Video games


* Ice-cream parlour
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