Panchkula MC passes ₹242 crore budget for FY 2023-24

Hoping to collect more pending revenue this year, the Panchkula municipal corporation (MC) on Tuesday passed a ₹242 crore budget for the financial year 2023-24, of which 103 crore will be spent on city’s development.

In the budget, passed during the General House meeting held at Kisan Bhavan, Sector 14, the total revenue has been estimated to be ₹242 crore while the expenditure is pegged at ₹217 crore. The approved budget for the last financial year was ₹157 crore.

All proposed agendas, except three, were passed by the House.

Oppn questions BJP posters on unipoles

The session began with Congress councillors Salim Khan, Sandeep Sohi and Jannayak Janta Party’s Sushil Garg raising questions over BJP posters on unipoles. “If Congress puts up a board, it is removed within half-an-hour,” they said.

The Opposition sought details of income received from the BJP for displaying themselves on unipoles. After a discussing spanning over half-an-hour, the mayor directed the removal of all such boards of BJP and other leaders. In place of these, the mayor asked for the boards of Swachhta mission to be put up.

Questions were also raised on the delay in construction of MC buildings. “Why are crores spent annually on rented buildings, when the CM has announced that the MC building will be funded by him. Three years have passed, why couldn’t you get a building ready?” the opposition asked.

Councillors furious over failure to provide basic amenities in colonies

The councillors from ward number 6 and 7, which include Rajiv Colony, Indira Colony, posed questions on why despite approval from the House, no development work has been carried out in colonies. To this, the officer concerned informed that the area is “unauthorised”.

This reply caused unrest among councillors, who then shared pictures of mayor and others seeking votes in the colonies. “You sought votes from the people, promised them basic facilities and now you say that area is unauthorised,” said Salim Daborkar.

Another councillor said: “Then why do we have these wards and what’s the purpose of electing councillors from there? You can spend lakhs on cow-shelters and not a few lakhs for these people?” It was only after the MC commissioner assured a response within a week’s time that peace was restored in the house.

“I will resolve the issue. Within a week, I will talk to my senior authorities and convey it to you,” MC commissioner Virender Lather said.

Mining to stop with immediate effect

All ongoing mining on the corporation’s land will be immediately stopped and the new ones will not be allowed to start at any cost. The house decided that a committee, headed by joint commissioner, will be formed. It will have executive engineers, councillors as members, who will visit the mining sites and prepare a report. The decision was taken after the opposition got to know that not even a single penny has been collected by the MC from these mining companies, even as mining is going on.

Agendas on garbage passed

All proposals on garbage management – including removal of legacy waste, secondary dumping sites, setting up of six new material recycling facilities (MRFs), along with expansion of door-to-door waste collection, and purchase of 10 tractor-trailers to lift horticulture waste, were passed by the House. The MC has proposed a fine of ₹5,000 on those dumping construction waste in the open. The violators will also be charged ₹2,000 per trolley for clearing the waste.

AMRUT: No free connections for now

The House had proposed free connections to 11 villagers, where sewer plants have been set up, amid NGT pressure to stop sewer waste from entering Ghaggar river. This will cost the MC ₹3.5 crore, hence the House has decided to put it on hold till the next meeting.

What else has been approved?

The House also approved free mobile phones and laptops for 23 councillors, including three nominated ones, for ‘work purpose’, beautification of five drains of Panchkula, setting up of multi-level parking in Sector 11 and a proposal to convert a basement into parking-cum-park has been approved. The MC also approved ice-cream carts of Nestle and other brands at 50 places in Panchkula city.