Indian Express 19.01.2010
Pawar gives goahead for Rs 300-cr loan for development works Pune's guardian minister Ajit Pawar has given a go-ahead to the corporators of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) for the Rs 300-crore loan that Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) planned to take to complete pending development works and undertaking new ones. This was decided at a meeting between the PCMC officials, NCP corporators from Pimpri Chinchwad and Pawar on Saturday.
PCMC officials said Pawar was supportive of the idea of PCMC going ahead with the loan. He said the central and the state governments would grants funds under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) only if development works were completed in the stipulated time. "So, the PCMC should complete slum rehabilitation, low income group housing projects, road development works and flyovers on a priority basis. If funds are needed to complete these projects, they should go ahead with the loan."
In the meeting that lasted around two-and-a-half hours, corporators informed Pawar that many small works that should be undertaken at the ward level were getting neglected as PCMC concentrated on completing its bigger projects. Also, funds were needed to complete ongoing works.
The corporators also complained about the officers working with the municipal corporation cooperating with a few corporators and ignoring the demands of the rest. PCMC officers, meanwhile, attributed the problem to allocation of resources according to the importance of works.
Pawar told the corporators that they should not rest on past laurels and think the PCMC was going to be one of the richest municipal corporations without taking any measures to generate revenue. He told the NCP corporators that there had been no harm when the property tax rates were increased admist opposition from many corporators, as it increased the revenue of the municipal corporation. The party leader said on the one side, the municipal staff would be given salary as per recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission, but on the other, corporators were protesting against any increase in tax to keep the electorate happy. "This tantamount to raising a white elephant. In the future, the PCMC might have to take tough decisions to increase revenue," said PCMC officers.
NCP MLAs Vilas Lande and Laxman Jagtap, Mayor Yogesh Behl and Municipal Commissioner Asheesh Sharma were also present at the meeting
