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House meet: Cash-strapped Chandigarh MC gets no relief, only assurance from administrator
Chandigarh administrator instead tells MC to generate more revenue on its own while assuring to approach the Centre to hike its annual grant to meet its growing expenses
The cash-strapped Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC), which was hoping for an immediate financial relief, did not receive any special grant from Punjab governor and UT administrator Gulab Chand Kataria during the MC House meeting on Saturday.
Mayor Kuldeep Kumar Dhalor had invited the administrator to the meeting in hopes of securing assistance to help the civic body tide over its ongoing financial crisis. However, while addressing the meeting, Kataria only assured that he will take up the matter with the central government to increase the annual grant for MC, in line with its growing expenditures, without announcing any immediate relief.
Instead Kataria directed MC officials and councillors to focus on improving the corporation’s own revenue generation by rationalising manpower, recovering pending arrears, detecting leakages, increasing taxes on those who can afford them and ensuring third-party inspections before clearing contractor payments.
For months, MC has been grappling with a severe financial crunch, forcing it to halt all development works since May and even putting long-pending road carpeting projects on hold.
Such is the crisis that the corporation may not be able to even pay out staff salaries in the coming months. To resume the development works, the mayor has been requesting the administrator for an immediate special grant of ₹200 crore.
“Chandigarh MC will have to work on improving its own revenue to be self-sustained. But I am making every possible effort and thinking out ways to provide additional financial help to MC. I will take up the matter with the Centre to increase the annual grant-in-aid for MC in line with MC’s increasing expenditure. Since salaries and committed liabilities of MC are increasing every year, we must also increase our grants,” Kataria said.
Detect leakages, increase taxes: UT administrator
While suggesting ways to improve MC’s financial condition, Kataria said, “MC’s major revenue source is property tax and hence, its arrears should be recovered and taxes should be gradually increased for those who can afford (commercial properties), without putting any burden on the poor.”
The administrator also suggested roping in brilliant retired officials and experts to discuss such matters and utilise their expertise in finding solutions.
“MC’s own revenue and capital expenditure is decreasing every year due to leakages. To cut down on your expenses, do third party inspection and verification on all MC projects, before clearing out payments of contractors,” Kataria added.
Councillors voice their demands
During the meeting, AAP councillor Yogesh Dhingra requested the UT administrator to mark an inquiry into MC’s expenditure on solid waste management and allow open hand voting for mayoral polls.
BJP councillor Saurabh Joshi also sought an inquiry into MC’s recruitment to check ghost employees and a third-party audit of on all Smart City projects.
Congress councillor Gurpreet Singh Gabi said, “We are taking steps to increase revenue but immediate relief is required to resume development works. UT should also transfer revenue-generating departments like RLA to MC.”
Nominated councillor Satinder Sidhu advocated forming a land pooling policy to ensure revenue generation.
After Guv’s rap, MC to audit all recruitments
Following the administrator’s directions to rationalise MC’s manpower and amid city councillors’ objections on increasing recruitments, municipal commissioner Amit Kumar announced a detailed check on total recruitments and its criteria in the previous years.
The city councillors raised objections after MC officials, while giving a presentation to the administrator, released figures related to MC’s staff strength over the past five years.
As per official figures, MC’s total staff strength increased from 8,587 employees in 2023-24 to 9,748 in 2024-25, reflecting that MC hired 1,161 employees (mostly on contractual basis) in just seven months.
The figures came as a surprise for councillors from all parties and mayor Kuldeep Kumar Dhalor, who said, “Who are these employees and where are they working?”
AAP councillor Ram Chander Yadav said, “In my ward, I have listed out over 15 employees who were recently recruited, even when no such posts have been sanctioned by MC. I have already submitted a written complaint against a junior engineer for hiring his own brother as a supervisor. A detailed inquiry should be marked on recruitments done in MC.”
Even the administrator noted, “In 2019-20, only 3,072 outsourced employees were working in MC and now, the number has increased to 6,965. Why is contractual recruitment increasing when regular posts are lying vacant? MC should do department-wise analysis of manpower and gradually shunt out excessive employees.”
To this, MC commissioner Amit Kumar said, “Not just for this fiscal, but now a detailed check will be done on recruitments done in all previous years. Also, we will rationalise manpower by checking their eligibility criteria. It is learnt that even employees above the age of 60 are also working with MC.”
House suspended amid BJP’s uproar over vendor issues
Mayor Dhalor suspended the MC House following heated arguments by BJP councillors over Town Vending Committee’s proposal to convert the licences of 385 non-essential service providers vendors into essential service providers.
Though the House had rejected this proposal in October, BJP councillors demanded voting to approve it on Saturday. Amid the melee, leader of Opposition Kanwarjeet Singh Rana reportedly removed MC secretary Gurinder Sodhi’s microphone and agenda copy to restrict him from moving on to the next agenda. The pandemonium escalated when the BJP councillors questioned how could the mayor, who held no power to withdraw an MC agenda, revoke MC’s proposal of increasing electricity cess. As arguments flew thick and fast, the mayor suspected the House.
MP Tewari skips meeting
Resident bodies noted MP Manish Tewari’s absence from the meeting. Some took to social media, questioning, “If the administrator can attend the MC House, the MP should have also been present to take up city’s crucial issues.”
