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Municipal Finance

Allotted Rs 20 lakh, Bhopal Municipal Corporation fails to spend even a Re

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The Times of India                    11.03.2013 

Allotted Rs 20 lakh, Bhopal Municipal Corporation fails to spend even a Re

BHOPAL: Eleven months on, Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) has failed to spend even a rupee out of Rs 20L allocated for beautification of 10 Number Market and installation of a fountain. The provision was made in corporation's last year budget.

The delay has apparently been due to ignorance of the local corporator and apathy of officials.

Interestingly, when TOI contacted mayor and local corporator to know their response they passed on the buck. Mayor Krishna Gaur said, "The corporator must not have claimed the amount, that is the reason why it could not be spent."

Contrary to this, municipal corporator of the area, Archana Pandey said, "Despite making repeated demands the officials didn't sanction funds for development".

A shopkeeper at 10 Number Market, Shanshank Sharma said, "It is common man who is at the receiving end. He is denied of basic civic facilities at one of city's most conjested market.

Arti Raghuvanshi a visitor told TOI, "The market looks messed up and plans for installation of a fountain here has failed to materialize."

Reva Shrivastav said, "It's the nearest market from residential areas, so it's convenient to come here rather than going to MP Nagar but things turn embarrassing when beggars chase you or when you step over garbage piled up."

Ravi Shankar a shopkeeper at 10 Number Market said, "Few days back, a fire broke out in the market which caused heavy losses to shopkeepers. At least the, market should be equipped to cope up with such situations."

Armendra Singh Chouhan, a shopkeeper at 10 number said, "This is a crucial market that caters to the needs of population in new Bhopal. All essentials are easily available here. It's unfortunate that the area which is of commercial importance has been neglected so far by administrations."
Last Updated on Monday, 11 March 2013 10:11
 

State cut on plan fund to stall city projects

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The Hindu                      09.03.2013

State cut on plan fund to stall city projects

Staff Reporter 

The government decision to cut Rs. 2.5 crore from its annual plan fund allocation to Kochi Corporation may upset the construction of roads, canals, drains and even the maintenance of hospitals in the city. The decision has come at a time when the implementation of a large number of such projects has been derailed in the city. The cut was made from the Rs. 40.28 crore allotted to the civic body.

The State government deducted the amount from the plan fund to allocate it back to the civic body for land acquisition for the proposed sewage treatment plant at Elamkulam.

The government decision will hit the implementation of the projects in Kochi in the long run, admitted Mayor Tony Chammany.

A large number of projects may remain non-starters and a few others would be lagging behind schedule causing inconvenience to the general public.

The contractors of the Kochi Corporation prefer to take up the works implemented using plan funds as they would get the payments immediately on completion of the works. In other cases, it may take years for them to get the money.

K.N. Sunilkumar, parliamentary party leader of the CPI (M) in the council, said the decision would upset all works implemented in the city under the people’s plan programme. There is also the possibility of some contractors being denied payment even after the completion of the work, he said.

The Kochi Corporation may not be able to complete a large number of projects before the March 31 deadline as it had to re-tender around 300 projects following charges of corruption. Besides the delay caused by the re-tendering, financial constraints too would force the corporation to cut short its projects, he said.

The decision, according to K.J. Sohan, chairman of Town Planning Standing Committee, would upset the purchase of medicines for hospitals and maintenance of city schools.

Mr. Chammany felt there was no justification for cutting the plan fund for allotting funds for a project implemented in the city under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. For the mission projects, 50 per cent of the project cost would come as grant from the Centre and the rest needed to be raised by the State government and the local body.

 

Rs.40 crore additional Central fund for MSDP

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The Hindu                      09.03.2013

Rs.40 crore additional Central fund for MSDP

Staff Reporter 

Minister for Urban Affairs and Minority Welfare Manjalamkuzhi Ali has said that the Union Ministry has earmarked Rs.40 crore as additional fund under the Multi Sectoral Development Programme (MSDP) for the minorities in the district.

Speaking to media persons here on Friday after attending a review meeting on the implementation of the MSDP in the district, Mr. Ali said that additional fund was earmarked following timely utilisation of funds for six of the seven projects under the programme.

Kerala was the only State that had completed projects under the MSDP on time, Mr. Ali said.

Union Minister for Minority Affairs K. Rahman Khan would inaugurate the completed projects by the middle of April.

A total of Rs.29.9 crore had been allotted to the district under the programme so far, including Rs.22.4 crore as Central fund and Rs.7.5 crore as State share, the Minister said.

In the review meeting, Mr. Ali directed the District Collector and a monitoring committee constituted for the programme to complete the remaining work under the project before April 10 and draft projects to improve the infrastructure facilities for minorities in the district utilising the additional fund.

Training centre

Earlier, Mr. Ali inaugurated a centre to train youth from the minority communities for various competitive tests. At the centre, 80 per cent of the seats are reserved for youth from Muslim community and the remaining for those from other backward communities.

Coaching will be offered free of cost.

 


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