Shillong, April 13: BJP leader and Tura MDC Bernard N Marak on Tuesday said hardly 50 per cent of work under the smart town project has been completed for the town of Tura and the involvement of the non-local contractors, architects and designers has manipulated the actual plan of the Town.

For instance, he said it’s very disappointing to see the Garo “Dama” designed as the base for the street lights in Chandmari, Ringre and Araimile are shaped like “kuls”.

“The architect has made a wrong design and it’s a glaring mistake which will remain an eye sore. They didn’t even make an effort to correct the misconception of the designers. It would have been best if the work were given to the local people instead of hiring foreign contractors and designers who have no knowledge of the Garos. These errors will do permanent damage to the town,” he said.

He also opined that if the work for the project was given to local development committees instead of the contractors, they would have done 100% work from the amount sanctioned to their localities.

The BJP leader informed that they have filed RTIs and are closely monitoring the implementation of the smart town project.