The battery operated vehicles that were proposed to ply between two prominent tourists spots — Sukhna lake and Rock Garden — are gathering dust as formal inauguration of these vehicles is yet to take place.
The two battery operated vehicles are lying idle outside the building of le Corbusier Centre in Sector 19 since last three months, thanks to the lackadaisical approach of the UT Tourism department.The vehicles worth Rs11 lakh remained unused since February as their inauguration is postponed repeatedly by UT Tourism officials due to different reasons. Initially, the reason was non-availability of senior UT officials to inaugurate the facility and then, the enforcement of model code of conduct due to polls is cited as the reason.
Earlier, the UT Tourism department had planned to organise an inaugural function during annual Rose Festival held in February but later, deferred the process due to busy schedule of a UT senior official who was supposed to launch the facility. Also, the Tourism department is yet to initiate the process to hire drivers for plying of these vehicles between the two tourism spots of the city.The UT Science and Technology department had bought these battery operated vehicles and was to hand over it to Tourism department in February but the latter is yet to take possession of these vehicles and is likely to further delay the process till the poll ends.
The 11-seater battery operated vehicle was proposed to be used to ferry tourists from Sculpture Kingdom-Rock Garden to Sukhna lake. The 11-seater environment friendly car can cover 40 km after charging from an electric outlet.The Sukhna lake and Rock Garden are famous attractions in the city and draw in large number of foreign and domestic tourists’ everyday. The move was also aimed at ensuring pollution free and noise free environment around these two far-famed tourist spots.
Each vehicle had cost Rs5.5 lakh (approx) to the UT Science and Technology Department.When contacted, Santosh Kumar, Director, UT Science and Technology department said, “Two battery operated vehicles has been bought by the Science and Technology department. We had to hand over these vehicles to UT Tourism department, but they are yet to take possession of these vehicles.”
“The process is being delayed and the vehicles are lying unused at le Corbusier Centre here since almost last three months,” he added.Despite repeated attempts, Tanvi Garg, Director, UT Tourism Department remained unavailable to comment on the issue.