Patiala MC fails to check illegal colonies
Monday, 04/06/2012
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120604/punjab.htm#2
Though the Patiala Municipal Corporation has witnessed a two-fold rise in revenue generation in the last five years, the mushrooming of illegal colonies —101 of them in the city’s 50 wards — continues to be an issue of concern. The Tribune Correspondent Umesh Dewan reports:
Fiscal health
The Patiala Municipal Corporation (MC) has the required funds for carrying out developmental projects. The civic body’s income in the 2006-07 fiscal was Rs 35.72 crore, which doubled to Rs 74.33 crore by 2011-12.
The city has a population of 4,06,768 living within the municipal limits. For the 2012-13 financial year, the corporation has set a target of revenue generation to the tune of Rs 99.65 crore. In its budget, the municipal body has earmarked 48 per cent (Rs 48 crore) for development projects whereas Rs 49.49 crore has been kept for establishment expenditure.
The earnings of the Patiala MC from account heads, including octroi/VAT share, advertisement tax, building fee and sale of property, have gone up considerably in the financial year 2011-12. The house tax collection in 2006-07 was Rs 5.81 crore, which almost doubled by 2011-12. The revenue receipts from building fee were to the tune of Rs 3.41 crore five years ago, which rose up to Rs 8.67 crore by the 2011-12 fiscal.
In the current financial year, the MC is expected to generate revenue of Rs 10.66 crore from water supply and sewerage, Rs 12.64 crore from house tax and Rs 49.86 crore from other sources. As far as financial liabilities are concerned, the Patiala MC has to pay a loan of Rs 25 crore to the Patiala Improvement Trust and loans amounting to Rs 60 crore to other financial institutions. As the corporation would generate Rs 35 crore by selling some of its property given on lease/rent and the Punjab Government likely to approve the MC’s case for a loan waiver (which is to be paid to the Improvement Trust), the fiscal health of the corporation is likely to improve in the future.
Brief history
The first elections to the Patiala Municipal Corporation were held in June 2002 and 50 councilors were elected. Vishnu Sharma of the Congress became the first Mayor. In the 2007 elections, the Congress lost to the SAD-BJP and Ajit Pal Singh Kohli, former Punjab Minister Surjit Singh Kohli's son, became the Mayor — the youngest in the country.
Water, sewerage
As far as potable water is concerned, there are 157 tubewells in all and 95 per cent of the city is being provided water. For the rest of the areas, an amount of Rs 2 crore has been sanctioned and within next few months, the entire city is likely to get access to water. The work of the underground sewerage is being done under the Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small & Medium Towns (UIDSSMT) and at present, 85 per cent of the city has been provided underground sewerage. The rest of the work is likely to be completed in the next six months. Of the total project cost of Rs 22.73 crore, 80 per cent grant has been given by the Union Government whereas the rest is coming from the state government and the Patiala MC. However, the initiative to lay stormwater sewerage to ensure utilisation of rainwater for recharging the groundwater has not been taken by the civic body so far.
Infrastructure
The total length of metalled and ‘kutcha’ roads within the municipal limits is 482 kms and 98 kms, respectively. While most of the city areas have proper roads, the work to lay metalled roads is in progress in areas having ‘kutcha’ roads. With as many as 28,113 streetlight points in the city, 80 per cent of the areas have been provided streetlights. However, as far as non-functional streetlights are concerned, little attention is being paid by the corporation to make them operational. With a view to preventing road mishaps, the corporation has also installed high-mast lights at eight roundabouts in the city.
Areas of concern
The trend of commercial buildings coming up in gross violation of building bylaws is fast increasing. Civic functionaries claim that lack of requisite staff is a major hurdle in checking the mushrooming of illegal buildings. However, there have been allegations that the civic authorities are hand in glove with builders who have been violating norms. Another issue is of dairies, which the corporation has failed to shift outside the municipal limits. Cow dung from dairies often chokes the sewerage system.
Illegal colonies
As per reports prepared by the civic body, there are 101 illegal colonies within the 50 municipal wards of Patiala. A majority of these colonies are coming up on the Rajpura Road and Sirhind Road. As a major chunk of the illegal colonies have got water and power connections, the civic authorities are of the opinion that regularisation of these colonies after taking development charges seems to be the only way out. However, whether the proposal of the civic body to regularise the colonies would be enforced or not is uncertain because the Punjab Government has adopted a stiff stand against illegal colonies and has already ordered a survey of unauthorised colonies in the state. The civic functionaries say the officials concerned had been told to ensure that no illegal colony is allowed to establish in the future.
Looking ahead
For scientific disposal of solid waste, a solid waste treatment plant is being set up at Dudhan Sudan village and land has also been acquired for it. Though the project got delayed for due to certain issues, including hurdles in land acquisition, the civic functionaries now claim that within six months, Patiala city will have an “aesthetic look” with no garbage in any area. Besides, the MC has witnessed computerisation of various departments and establishment of suvidha centres for hassle-free service to the people.
