4 years on musical fountains lying defunct Amritsar civic body passes the buck

Charanjit Singh TejaTribune News ServiceAmritsar August 23The citys first musical fountains installed at Company Bagh have been lying defunct for the last four years The previous SAD-BJP government had spent Rs 1 crore on the project which was inaugurated by then local bodies minister Anil Joshi on March 4 2016According to information the Amritsar Improvement Trust AIT had hired a company which also runs Sun City Amusement Park on the garden to operate the musical fountains Joshi during his tenure used to get all the works done through the AIT thus bypassing the Municipal Corporation MCThe MC claimed that memorandum of understanding signed during Joshis tenure was a major hurdle in maintenance of musical fountainsMorning walkers and visitors criticised the government for first spending crores and then completely ignoring the entire project The MC had made efforts to call the contractor responsible for its operation but to no availAfter the change of the government in 2017 the AIT had reportedly stopped making payments to the firm responsible for operations and maintenanceSandeep Singh Executive Engineer Horticulture MC said The Municipal Corporation had no role in installation of musical fountains and development of Children Park in the garden as the then government had bypassed the MC House and funds were used through the AIT Mayor Karamjit Singh Rintu asked us to get the fountains repaired at the earliestThe Mayor said The SAD-BJP during their tenure had taken several properties of the MC and gave to other government or private bodies We are streamlining things Fountains will be made functional soon