The Hindu : New Delhi News : Court to decide fate of Hanuman Mandir project

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Monday, Apr 07, 2008
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New Delhi

Court to decide fate of Hanuman Mandir project

Manisha Jha

NEW DELHI: The New Delhi Municipal Council’s much talked about project for re-development of Hanuman Mandir has been stuck in a legal limbo for over four months. The project had to be put on hold in December 2007 after one of the tender bidders, A. K. Builders, filed a petition against the civic body in the matter of awarding the tender contract.

However, after the Delhi High Court passed an interim order last week directing the civic body to go ahead with opening the tenders for the project, the NDMC is hopeful that it will finally be able to move ahead after the final hearing of the case on April 8.

According to the civic body, the petitioner had applied for the tender and challenged the civic body for not awarding the contract to him. The civic body, however, had refused stating that since the applicant’s brother worked for the NDMC, the civic body could not award the contract to A. K. Builders as per its contract agreement clause.

An NDMC official said: “We had issued tenders for the project in November 2007 and the matter became sub-judice the next month. Due to postponement of the court hearing on previous occasions, the settlement kept getting delayed further.”

Meanwhile in the view of the delay, the Hanuman Mandir complex on Baba Kharak Singh Marg continues to suffer from neglect in terms of civic maintenance and basic facilities of garbage disposal and public conveniences.

The NDMC had drafted elaborate plans for re-organising the existing space in the temple complex in the form of a two-level plaza with seating arrangement, walkways and ramps.

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