Unipole advertisements: Kharar MC marks inquiry into delay in signing contract
The delay had caused a loss of ₹1 crore to the state exchequer
The Kharar municipal council executive officer Kulbir Singh Brar on Tuesday ordered an inquiry in the alleged loss of ₹1 crore due to the delay in signing of agreement for advertisements on 78 unipoles.
The HT, in its Monday report had highlighted how the delay had caused a loss of ₹1.08 crore to the state exchequer. Brar also constituted a three-member committee comprising of superintendent as in-charge, a chief sanitary inspector and a sanitary inspector.
The committee will conduct an audit of the number of unipoles erected by the agency and will also report, whether these unipoles are on actual site or not.
Brar said, “The committee will submit its report in three days. We will not tolerate any loss and same will be recovered from the security deposit furnished by the agency, who was awarded contract in February this year.”
He also said, all the illegal unipoles within the MC limits will be demolished in three days as the committee constituted has also written to police for assistance.
Though the contract was awarded to the Chandigarh-based agency, Decode Advertisers Private Limited, in February this year at ₹27 lakh per month for 78 unipoles ( in Kharar, Kurali and Nayagaon), but the agreement was signed in August 22, the day on which the previous Kharar executive officer Rajesh Sharma was transferred to Malerkotla in Punjab.
As per sources, the agency had collected started collecting revenue from the sites from April itself causing a huge loss to government exchequer.
According to the terms and conditions, the agency should have started paying MC the license fee after 45 days, from the day of auction, which was February 26.
Director of Decode Advertisers, Rajesh Jain said, “We have written several letters to MC for the possession of sites, but they failed to do us. Out of the total 78 structures, we have possession of 28 unipoles only.We have paid ₹27 lakh rent for August.”
The MC sources said, there are around 54 illegal unipoles within MC limits from which the agency has been earning a huge revenue.
