The Hindu 18.03.2010

Government gives nod for road-widening in Gulbarga

Special Correspondent

GULBARGA: The State Government has approved widening of four main roads in Gulbarga city by invoking the emergency provisions under Section 17(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, to acquire the required land for the project.

The roads to be widened are the ones between Jagat Circle and Humnabad Base, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Circle and M.S.K. Mill Road, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Circle and Aland Road checkpost, and Rashtrapati Chowk and Ram Mandir.

Karnataka Rakshana Vedike president Arunkumar Patil, who released a copy of the Government Order on Wednesday, told presspersons that the district administration and the Gulbarga City Corporation should initiate the project as soon as possible. “The road-widening has been inordinately delayed in the city, while it has already been taken up in Bidar, Raichur and other places,” he said. Deputy Commissioner R. Vishal, who was away in Bangalore on official work, was not available for comment.

Schedule

Sources, who did not want to be named, said that the officials concerned had begun the exercise of preparing a road map for demolishing buildings on the land required for the roadworks. The work is scheduled to begin in a week or two, the sources added.

Hailing the go-ahead for the work, Mr. Patil said it was the result of the long struggle of the vedike for taking up road-widening and city beautification projects.

In another victory for the vedike, the Central Railway authorities began the widening of the railunder-bridge on Old Jewargi Road on Tuesday. Mr. Patil, who performed the “bhoomi puja” on behalf of the railway authorities and the contractor, said that the widening would help ease the traffic jams on the road.

Business Standard 26.02.2010

Tie state grants to local body devolution

BS Reporter / February 26, 2010, 0:27 IST

Related measures to map, augment municipal resources.

The Thirteenth Finance Commission has proposed to award up to 2.50 per cent of the divisible pool of resources during 2009-14 as grants to local bodies, which includes panchayati raj institutions (PRI) and urban local bodies (ULB).

The basic grant is to comprise 1.5 per cent, whereas up to 1 per cent would be a performance-based component. All states would be eligible. The performance grant is to be effective from 2011-12 and will be 0.5 per cent for 2011-12 and 1 per cent for the next three years. The total recommended grant for local bodies is Rs 87,519 crore.

To ensure proper utilisation, the Finance Commission has proposed that state governments be eligible for general performance grant and special areas performance grant only if they comply with some stipulations.

The performance-based component is to available only to those states who comply with Finance Commission guidelines by 2011-12. This is aimed at improving the functioning of local bodies, ensuring predictability and transparency in transfer of funds, and enhancing the functioning of State Finance Commissions.

The Finance Commission also showed concern on non-utilisation of funds allocated to local bodies by previous commissions. While there was some improvement over 2005-09, compared to those of the 10th and 11th Finance Commissions, still ULBs and PRIs were unable to use 10.6 per cent and 7.4 per cent, respectively, of the money in 2005-09.

In the 12th Finance Commission period, the amount allocated for PRIs and ULBs were Rs 18,000 crore and Rs 4,500 crore, respectively. The amount drawn by PRIs and ULBs in the same period was Rs 16,664.8 crore and Rs 4,024.5 crore.

On property tax collection, the Finance Commission said only about Rs 4,500 crore on this head is collected in a year, the total across 36 cities. It says large cities take in no more than 63 per cent of the total assessment. It suggested local bodies do more to exploit this potential; it wants the collection level in all states to reach at least 85 per cent, which would translate to an addition of Rs 22,000-32,000 crore in a year.

It also wants every state to establish a Central Valuation Board, on the lines of the West Bengal Central Valuation Board, to standardise property assessment and valuation. It also suggested the states institute a geographic information system (GIS) for mapping all properties in cities, which will result in increased coverage.

The Finance Commission also urged states to incentivise revenue collection by local bodies, including mandating some or all local taxes as obligatory. And, that states strengthen their local fund audit departments.

To ensure accountability in states, the Commission said recommendations of any State Finance Commission (on devolution within a state) be implemented without delay and the Action Taken Report be placed before the legislature at the earliest.