Chandigarh, March 21
The Municipal Corporation Chandigarh is now in a hurry to spend the amount sanctioned to various wards under the ward development fund, keeping in view that this year is the last year of its five-year tenure. This seems impossible, keeping in view the balance amount of Rs 5 lakh or more in almost every councillor’s ward, besides the expenditure already incurred on various schemes during the past four years. In the forthcoming financial year, the last instalment of Rs 10 lakh will be sanctioned to every ward.
According to official figures available, each councillor has, during the past few years, been able to spend only 40 per cent of the total sanctioned amount under the fund. The MC is making plans to spend the remaining amount by the end of the year.
To review the progress of the sanctioned works undertaken by the councillors in their respective wards, the expenditure incurred under various heads and the difficulties being faced by them in getting certain other works will be discussed during the meetings convened by the Chief Engineer on March 22 and 27. Since the authority to sanction the priority works of wards was vested with the Chief Engineer, the progress of wards 1 to 10 will be taken up tomorrow, while those of wards 11 to 20 will be taken up on March 27.
According to information available, every since the MC came into being in 1996, the councillors were being sanctioned Rs 5 lakh per year as the ward development fund and the same was increased to Rs 10 lakh in 2000. The MC can approve works worth Rs 35 lakh in each of the 20 wards if the Rs 10 lakh to be sanctioned in April this year is taken into account.
The figures disclose that the balance amount between the amount approved for various schemes upto February 28, 2001, and the actual expenditure upto March 31, 2001, is approximately more than Rs 5 lakh except for ward 20, of the Senior Deputy Mayor, Mr Gurcharan Dass Kala, where the balance is nil. The balance amount left is ward 3 — Rs 12.92 lakh; ward 6 — Rs 12.80 lakh, ward 7 — 12.34 lakh, which belong to BJP councillors Mr Des Raj Tandon, Air Marshal (retd) RS Bedi, Mr Kanhya Lal Sharma, respectively.
The sanctioned amount has to be spent on various development works before the next elections in December. The amount will otherwise lapse at the end of the tenure of the House. While the councillors mostly blame the officials for the delay in spending the
allotted amount, the officials on their part maintain that they approve as and when the schemes are put forth by the area councillor. In schemes which require planning, approval and necessary drawings are sought from the Chief Architect, but in most others, the estimates are approved by the wings concerned and work is started. Many councillors are not even aware that the said amount has to be spent before the expiry of the tenure of the House. They do not even know what is the balance amount in their ward development fund and schemes worth how many
rupees have been approved till date. The councillors allege that the officials do not give them the required information as and when they seek.
The Chief Engineer, Mr Puranjit Singh, when contacted, said there was still time and the balance amount would be used for undertaking various development works in these wards. While works of Rs 25 lakh already stand approved in all the 20 wards, the remaining Rs 10 lakh will be sanctioned after April 1, 2001. The meetings have been specifically called so that the councillors can be told the exact amounts that stand approved against their wards and how much of the same have been
spent. They can later use this information for planning their development works for the coming year. He denied any delay on their part in sanctioning money out of this fund for any scheme put forth by the area councillor.
