The Municipal Corporation, Panipat, spent Rs 23.56 crore on infrastructure development for the Hali Park Lake, but the facility has remained unutilised for the past three years because water has been unavailable, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has revealed.
The CAG report was tabled in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha on Tuesday. This is a clear case of public money spent without delivering the intended result — a lake that was supposed to be revived sits dry and unused.
How the Hali Park Lake project was approved and awarded
According to the CAG report, the state government accorded administrative approval for the revival of Hali Park Lake in December 2016. The Municipal Corporation then granted technical approval in November 2017 for a detailed estimate of Rs 23.40 crore.
M/s Jai Shree Balaji Construction Company was awarded the work in December 2017 for Rs 23.40 crore. The project included the development of the lake and boating site, park with open-air theatre, garden café, kiosks, and parking facilities.
What was built but never used
The infrastructure was fully developed, but the core purpose — filling the lake with water — was never achieved. The CAG has pointed out that the facility has remained unutilised for the past three years.
This means the boating site, the park, the open-air theatre, the garden café, and the kiosks are all standing idle. Taxpayers' money has gone into building facilities that no one can use because the lake itself has no water.
"The facility has remained unutilised for the past three years because water has been unavailable." — CAG report, tabled in Haryana Vidhan Sabha
Our Take: A costly lesson in poor planning
To put it plainly, this is a failure of planning and execution. The authorities approved the project, awarded the contract, and spent Rs 23.56 crore — but they did not ensure the most basic requirement: water for the lake.
In our view, this is not just about one lake in Panipat. It raises serious questions about how public infrastructure projects are approved and monitored. When a project of this scale is cleared, the availability of the core resource — in this case, water — should be confirmed before a single rupee is spent.
The CAG report serves as a reminder that accountability matters. The people of Panipat deserve to know why this project was allowed to proceed without securing water, and what steps will be taken to either revive the lake or recover the money spent.
This is public money — Rs 23.56 crore of it — and it has not delivered what it promised. The authorities must answer for this waste.