Link MC’s GST share to city’s population: Abohar MLA Sandeep Jakhar

The Municipal Corporation here, one of the 9 MCs in the state, received only Rs 14.4 crore as the goods and services tax (GST) as its share from the state government last year. However, the annual budget for the salary of employees was Rs 17.7 crore. Abohar MLA Sandeep Jakhar said the population of the town had reached close to 1.75 lakh and about 350 regular and adhoc sanitation workers were engaged in cleaning the streets and roads. He said because of the gap between the salary and the amount received, there was a delay in the payment of salaries. He said at least four times a year, the staff has to sound a bugle for a strike.

While interacting with mediapersons today, MLA Jakhar said the successive governments have been following very old policy regarding the share of taxes, and it needed to be updated so that the share may be decided according to the population of the city.

He said door-to-door collection of dry and wet waste had been launched with the help of the previous regimes and some parliamentarians by arranging 25 tippers and 150 rickshaw rehris so the aura of the city may be maintained. He said the MC had started collecting the minimum possible garbage collection fee from houses and shops for which cooperation by the public was sought.

MLA Jakhar said the current state government’s indifference towards Abohar may be adjudged by the fact that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had only visited the city three times since he became the CM; however, he did not announce any funds or development projects for the city during the visits.

The MLA said during the recent assembly session, the AAP-led state government announced tenders worth Rs 3.33 crore for the long-pending development of previous government — Abha Square and Mandi No. 1 and 2. He said he hoped that there would be no obstacle to completing the work.