Chandigarh MC suffered loss of Rs 20 crore in 2016 - Hindustan Times
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Chandigarh MC suffered loss of Rs 20 crore in 2016

Hindustan Times, Chandigarh | By, Chandigarh
Jan 19, 2017 01:08 PM IST

Though newly-elected mayor Asha Kumari Jaswal is pressing for revenue generation by finding new ways like imposing entry tax on commercial vehicles coming to the city from other states, the BJP councillor seems to be ignoring the fact that in past one year, they have lost the revenue amounting to Rs 20 crore.

Though newly-elected mayor Asha Kumari Jaswal is pressing for revenue generation by finding new ways like imposing entry tax on commercial vehicles coming to the city from other states, the BJP councillor seems to be ignoring the fact that in past one year, they have lost the revenue amounting to Rs 20 crore.

With the earnings of just Rs 49 crore this fiscal, the civic body is running behind its target of Rs 70 crore revenue generation.(HT File Photo)
With the earnings of just Rs 49 crore this fiscal, the civic body is running behind its target of Rs 70 crore revenue generation.(HT File Photo)

The MC failed to generate revenue through paid parking, multilevel parking and car bazaar. It also failed to collect Rs 12 crore from water-bill defaulters. With the earnings of just Rs 49 crore this fiscal, the civic body is running behind its target of Rs 70 crore revenue generation. On January 12, new city mayor Asha Jaswal had said, she would not oppose new taxes for the betterment of the city.

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MC suffered a loss of Rs 50 lakh in 8 months

It was on June 9 last year, when MC allotted the contract to a Gurgaon-based company — MAAC Infrastructure Private Limited for three months to run Rs 50 crore multilevel parking at Sector 17, since then MC has been losing Rs 5 lakh a month as it has been paying Rs 20,000 a day to the contractor for operation and maintenance, but earning only Rs 3, 000 a day. Against the capacity of 900 vehicles at the new parking facility, only 300 spots get occupied there on an average. Since September, MC has been operating the facility on its own and they are re-thinking how to run the same.

Lost Rs 5 crore due to paid parking

MC has suffered a loss of Rs 5 crore as it has failed to auction 22 parking lots in the city. In July last year, MC decided to convert all parking lots in smart parking lots, but no concrete steps have been taken till now.

Suffered loss of Rs 10 lakh due to car bazaar

With the MC not allowing car bazaar dealers to function from Sector 7 market since December last year, it has suffered a loss of nearly Rs 10 lakh in seven weeks. They are asking dealers to shift to new site at Hallo Majra, but dealers are opposing the move.

Enforcement wing revenue slashes by Rs 2.5-cr

With the MC not challaning unauthorised street vendors since June last year; the revenue has dropped to Rs 1 crore. Whereas in 2015, the revenue from challaning unauthorised vendors was Rs 3.5 crore.

MC fails to collect Rs 12 crore from water-bill defaulters

The dues of water-bill defaulters has been growing for the past five years and has reached to Rs 12 crore. Despite this, MC has never initiated steps to recover the amount. Besides, in 2015, revenue generated from water charges was Rs 60 crore which dropped to Rs 55 crore last year and is expected dip further this year.

MC’s apathetic about losses

Due to non-allotment of its hundreds of booths, the MC has suffered a loss of about Rs 8 crore so far. Then MC commissioner Vivek Pratap Singh had also constituted a committee in August 2014 to frame a policy for booth allotment, but things haven’t moved much. In the accountant general’s report, it was stated the MC didn’t make efforts to lease out these booths and that their condition has deteriorated over the years.

Shops in the Sector 17-22 subway are lying vacant for the past one decade. However, after suffering a loss of over Rs 5 crore due to these 14 vacant booths for for over 10 years now, the MC is now planning to auction them.

Main sources of revenue generation

At present, the MC’s main sources of income are property tax, paid parking lots, rent from cable operators, taxi stands, community centres, through auctioning of seized articles, festival charges, rickshaw licence fee, rent from night food-street, subway shops, eating joints and liquor vends.

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Hillary Victor is a Principal Correspondent at Chandigarh. He covers Chandigarh administration, municipal corporation and all political parties.

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