Panchkula MC House to meet on Feb 15 after four months

After a delay of four months, the Panchkula municipal corporation (MC) will finally be holding its General House meeting on February 15.

The corporation will present a budget of ₹242 crore of which, ₹103 crore will be spent on the city’s development.

The meeting will be held at the Kisan Bhawan in Sector 15. Panchkula mayor Kulbhushan Goyal on Monday said, “Last year’s budget was ₹157 crore, but this time, we are expecting to generate more income from property tax ( ₹25 crore), stamp duty ( ₹35 crore) and other sources.”

Among the agendas on the list is provision of free mobile phones and laptops for 23 councillors (including three nominated ones) for ‘work purpose’, besides proposals regarding waste management, basement parking and ice-cream stalls.

“We have proposed the agendas, but they have yet to be approved. Laptops and mobile phones for 23 councillors would cost up to ₹20 lakh,” the mayor said.

However, leader of opposition in the House and councillor from ward number 20, Salim Dabkori, said, “I don’t need an extra phone or laptop. I want the money to be spent on the development of my ward. I am answerable to the residents. It is better if they channelise the money towards road repairs.”

Clearing legacy waste, setting up 6 recycling centres on cards

Of the four proposals on garbage management, one is to clear the legacy waste and another to remove secondary dumping sites from Panchkula.

“Around 35,000 tonnes of legacy waste is lying at Jhurriwala site. It has to be disposed, so a tender will be floated to clear the space of the waste,” the mayor said.

Six new material recycling facilities (MRFs) have also been proposed, along with expansion of door-to-door waste collection. An MRF is used to further segregate and recycle the waste collected from households.

Another agenda proposed involves purchase of 10 tractor-trailers to lift horticulture waste. The civic body has proposed a fine of ₹5,000 on those dumping construction waste in the open, and they will also be charged ₹2,000 per trolley for clearing the waste.

“We will identify a park in Panchkula, where a basement parking will come up. This will be done on a pilot-project basis,” Goyal said. If the project turns out to be successful, he said, then it would be implemented at other places as well. The MC has also proposed to take a site from HSVP in Sector 11 for the construction of multi-level parking.

What do councillors have to say

“The Municipal Corporation Act mandates that House meetings should be held every month, whereas the current civic body holds it once in four months. They are doing it on February 15 just to clear the budget, otherwise they would have delayed it further,” claimed Dabkori.

Another councillor Usha Rani said, “So many projects are pending in our wards. If they hold the meeting every month, then we could at least raise questions on the pending development works.”

The mayor, meanwhile, said, “We don’t operate like Chandigarh MC, here House meetings are held three to four times only.”

“We will hold House meetings when there is an agenda,” he added.