Monday, August 31, 2015

Fancy facades cracking inside, Bhilai Steel Plant townships cry for attention

Times of India: Bhilai: Monday, 31 August 2015.
While few parts of township area of steel city Bhilai have been given bridal make-up, citizens rue that basic facilities in the inner ward areas have been neglected. The excessive obsession of Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) to beautify the township has drawn flak from different quarters, as this centre point of the city which is maintained by BSP's township department lacks several basic facilities.
If somebody with rural background sees the Central Avenue, which runs parallel to the highway connecting the township from BSP's main gate to JLN Hospital in Sector-9, for the first-time, he would be stunned. Lights and decorative plants dominate the stretch. But a few meters inside, various sectors have a different story. Bad roads, stinking water spilling over the sector road and loads of wastes have become a regular site after a short spell of rain.
Citizens living since many decades here have started to raise questions towards non-existence of public toilets, deteriorating healthcare as well as education facilities in BSP run hospitals and BSP schools, regular power-cuts, inadequate supply of drinking water, bad sector roads, lack of dedicated parking policy and many others.
An RTI with details of total expenditure and budget allotted between 2010 and 2014 shows that BSP, under its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), on an average, spends about Rs 1,289 lakh annually and the average annual budget allotment for the above said period is around Rs 1,566.5 lakh. However, basic facilities to the residents of township leave much to desire.
The BSP's CSR department claims to have constructed and donated over 140 toilets in the schools of different districts including Durg, Rajnandgaon, Balod Bilaspur and Kanker. However, it has never constructed public toilets in key areas of township. Even at major shopping sites, market and other public places including Civic Center, zonal market, markets in sector areas and space allotted for weekly haat bazar, the public toilets are non-existent. BSP run schools are not sought after anymore. BSP's PR officials say there were more than 50 BSP run schools in city and at present their numbers have been curtailed to 27. Citizens say that the deteriorating quality of education is the main factor that has made staff send their wards in private schools of city.