Chandigarh to decide on free 20K litre water, parking after Lok Sabha poll
Dushyant Singh Pundir
Chandigarh, March 20
The UT Administration will take a decision on the agenda passed by a special meeting of the Municipal Corporation (MC) House on March 11 regarding giving free 20,000 litres of water and free parking in the market lots, after the Lok Sabha elections.
Controversy over budget meet
On March 6, Mayor Kuldeep Kumar Dhalor passed the budget of the civic body in the absence of the MC Commissioner, secretary and Opposition councillors. The MC secretary had written to him to cancel the session citing a legal opinion of the UT’s Senior Standing Counsel.
Without sharing any road map or planning for implementation, the AAP-Congress alliance got the agenda pertaining to free 20,000 litre water per month per household and free parking in the market lots passed in the MC House.
In an apparent counter move, the BJP put up a table agenda on providing free 40,000 litres of water. However, Mayor Kuldeep Kumar Dhalor did not consider the BJP’s agenda.
A senior officer of the UT Administration said they were yet to receive the agenda passed by the MC House, but they would see to it only after the model code of conduct was lifted. Also, the Local Bodies Department has sought comments from the MC on the legality of the budget of Rs 2,325 crore approved during the House meeting held on March 6.
The officer said they were yet receive the agenda from the MC regarding the budget approved on March 6, and also sought a report from the MC on the legality of the budget approval.
He said the Administration allocated a sum of Rs 300 crore for routine activities, including payment of employees’ salaries, expenditure on garbage processing, minor works, taxes, and tendered contract payments, for the next three months. On March 15, the UT Administration had released Rs 14 crore to the MC.
On March 6, the MC approved a budget of Rs 2,325 crore for the financial year 2024-25, following which the department sought an explanation from MC on how the budget meeting was conducted.
Earlier, UT Administrator Banwarilal Purohit had refused to give his approval to the free water resolution passed by the MC House.
He had said they already had a scheme to provide 24×7 water supply to every household and there was an agreement for 15 years in this regard. He was referring to the agreement signed between the MC and the Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD) with the support of the European Union in December 2022. Under the agreement 24×7 water supply would be provided to the households in the city. It is a Rs 510-crore project — Rs 412 crore in the form of AFD’s soft loan and Rs 98 crore as European Union’s grant. From 2027, the residents will have to pay additional water charges for 15 years in view of a soft loan taken from a French firm for the 24×7 pan-city water supply project. The tendering process for this project is underway.
As far as free parking is concerned, last month, the MC had floated a tender for turning all 89 parking areas into smart facilities providing FASTag-enabled system. No agency is going to provide this system and manpower to run the lots for free.
Free water and parking are expected to be big issues in the coming Lok Sabha elections.
