Ghaziabad municipal body approves revised budget of ₹1,100cr for 2021-22 fiscal

The House approved development of a solid waste processing plant over 15 acres of land near Dundahera, adjacent to the Delhi-Meerut Expressway

The House of the Ghaziabad municipal corporation gave its approval to a revised budget, involving an expenditure of ₹1,100 crore and income of ₹1,211 crore for the 2021-22 fiscal, presented during the board meeting on Saturday.

Currently, the Ghaziabad municipal corporation does not have the resources to process around 700 tones of solid waste per day. (HT Archive)

“The budget involves expenditure on civic infrastructure, water supply, horticulture, cleanliness and other provisions like health. For the first time on Saturday, we also presented before the board our balance sheet for the first six months of this financial year, which we prepared in 45 days. This will solve our purpose of compliance to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) as we have floated municipal bonds of ₹150 crore,” said municipal commissioner M S Tanwar.

The House also approved development of a solid waste processing plant over 15 acres of land near Dundahera, adjacent to the Delhi-Meerut Expressway.

“We would like to clarify that it will not be a dumping yard but a waste processing plant. We will also develop a scientific landfill, which will help process the solid waste coming from the Vijay Nagar zone as well as some portion of Kavi Nagar zone. Currently, we have a shortfall of processing about 700 metric tonnes of solid waste. The proposed landfill will help reduce this gap by around 500 metric tonnes per day,” said Tanwar.

It is likely that the work for the project will start within a month while similar decentralised processing plants are operational at Sihani and Ret Mandi (near Nandgram), besides a temporary plant at Shakti Khand in Indirapuram.

Civic officials said that the proposal of handing over 15,000 square metres of land to NCR Transport Corporation for the purpose of developing the Regional Rapid Transit System project was opposed by councillors. According to the directions issued by the state administration, the land is to be leased out to NCRTC at the rate of ₹1 per square metre.

“The board said the lease rent for the land should be decided on the basis of circle rates. We are forwarding the decision of the House to the state administration. In another decision, we have allowed shop owners to be heard before we levy the proposed new rental rates for 1,702 shops across the city,” said Tanwar.

The 1,702 shops across the city have been leased on rental basis to the allottees. The corporation recently proposed that the rates will be revised as per the prevailing circle rates. According to officials, the current rental rates of the shops helps the corporation fetch an annual income of ₹76 lakh , which will go up to ₹10 crore if the proposed rates are put into effect.

“The rates have not been revised for almost decades and the new rates are substantially high. Before levying new rates, the corporation should hear the objections of the shop keepers,” said Rajendra Tyagi, municipal councillor from Raj Nagar.