Take prior permission before initiating any fresh project: UT admn tells Chandigarh MC

A total of ₹67 crore have been made available to the MC for carrying out capital or new development works in the city for the current financial year.

The municipal corporation will now have to take prior approval of the UT administration before undertaking any new development work in the city.

The new administration order, however, will have no impact on road re-carpeting work in the city. Road re-carpeting will be made possible because of a special grant that the UT had issued in March. (HT FILE)

The condition was laid down by the administration on Monday while approving MC’s revised estimates for 2019-20 and the budget estimates for 2020-2021.

A total of ₹67 crore have been made available to the MC for carrying out capital or new development works in the city for the current financial year. In the budget approval letter to the MC, the administration directed, “₹67 crore are expected to be available with the MC for development works, so MC should identify capital/revenue works to this extent only and submit the details of such projects before actually undertaking any.”

“Many of the development works are going to suffer because of paucity of funds this year. No new project is likely to be started. Works like changing of the defunct storm and sewerage lines, and even works under the ward development funds are likely to be adversely impacted this year,” said a senior MC official requesting anonymity.

‘SET PRIORITIES’

The MC has also been directed to prioritise new development works and plan accordingly the spending of ₹67 crore available for them. Capital works already started in the earlier years need to be given priority for completion in this financial year before undertaking any other capital work, the administration has further directed.

The new administration order, however, will have no impact on road re-carpeting work in the city. “Road re-carpeting will be made possible because of a special grant that the UT had issued in March. Work on last year’s pending road re-carpeting project has started. This financial year’s road re-carpeting work will start after monsoon,” said the official.

In March this year, the UT administration had approved a special grant of ₹132 crore for the MC to help complete its pending projects, including broken roads.

‘GENERATE MORE INTERNAL FUNDS’

Even as the lockdown has aggravated the financial difficulties of an already cash-starved MC, the administration has asked the civic body to “improve the resource generation at its own level by adopting various measures.”

“The corporation is in no position to make funds available for capital works planned for this fiscal. Our internal resources have depleted due to the lockdown,” said the official.

NO 20% CUT IN MC SPENDING

The UT administration has decided against levying a 20% cut in the committed grant for the MC in the first quarter. The central government had asked all departments to cutback on their first quarter spending by 20% in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. The administration has said it will instead absorb the 20% cut at its own level and ensure the MC gets 100% grant approved by the Centre.