Ten years after getting possession of booths in various parts of the city, the municipal corporation (MC), after waking up from its slumber, has finally decided to frame a policy for their allotment.
The policy will be placed before the House in January. Mayor Poonam Sharma said, “At first, we will auction a total of 112 booths at Vikas Nagar and Mauli Jagran on lease-hold basis for 99 years. They were constructed two years back. We are now working on fixing the reserve price.”
For the past over 10 years, nearly 300 booths have been lying vacant in various parts of the city, thereby causing a loss worth around Rs 7 crore to the MC.
The issue was discussed in the House several times, after which the then MC commissioner Vivek Pratap Singh had also constituted a committee in August 2014 to frame a policy on booth allotment, but to no avail.
Even the audit report of the accountant general, released recently, stated the civic body did not make efforts to lease out these booths, which are in pitiable condition. “The shops could have been leased out through advertisements in newspapers or internet,”the report stated.
During House meetings, some councillors had even suggested the shops in the Sector 17-22 subway should be given for setting up food stalls, but nothing has been done so far; a total of 26 booths at the air-conditioned fish market in Sector 41 are lying vacant for the past three years.
{{/usCountry}}During House meetings, some councillors had even suggested the shops in the Sector 17-22 subway should be given for setting up food stalls, but nothing has been done so far; a total of 26 booths at the air-conditioned fish market in Sector 41 are lying vacant for the past three years.
{{/usCountry}}Besides, many shops in Badheri and Buterla villages have also been lying vacant for the past several years.
The MC has recently decided to allot over 40 booths constructed under the Sector-17 overbridge. Also, a food street is yet to come up in southern sectors, though a cluster of six food stalls was inaugurated in Sector 48 a year back, but with no specific policy.