The Hindu 09.12.2009
GVMC woes likely to end
Staff Reporter
| List of works being provided to standing panel members |
Standing committee meeting ends without any outcome Budget needs to be approved by Thursday
VISAKHAPATNAM: Hiccups in the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation’s Standing Committee approving the budget proposals paving the way for placing it in the council are likely to end with the details of ward-wise works being provided to members.
With the GVMC facing a fund crunch and requiring fairly big amounts of money to finance the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission works, corporators are experiencing difficulty in getting individual works sanctioned. They made no bones about it by saying in the corporation meeting that while projects worth hundreds of crores had been taken up under JNNURM, they were facing problems in getting works sanctioned in their wards.
Sources maintain that over the last two and a half years, works worth about Rs.350 crores have been sanctioned in the wards. A number of them have been taken up and works in the wards ranged from Rs. 4 crores to a maximum of Rs.8 crores in some wards. However, with financial pressure mounting the Commissioner has put an end to sanctioning works as required by the corporators but strictly only on the basis of need. “There is no point in sanctioning works and taking them up and keeping the bills of contractors pending,” points out an official.
However, the Standing Committee members insisting that proposals be made ward-wise cannot be met as the Government had issued a memo in 2005 not to make ward-wise proposals.
Bias in allotment and legal complications had led to government issuing such a memo. “Since then ward-wise proposals have not been prepared. However, budget accommodates proposals from the individual corporators as well as standing committee members. In fact, it is for the committee to make the budget proposals,” points out the official.
List
Following the demand of the standing committee members, lists of works taken up in individual wards are being provided to them. With Monday’s standing committee meeting ending without any outcome on the budget proposals, the members are expected to meet again on Wednesday.
The budget should be introduced in the corporation meeting on or before January 10. For it, the Standing Committee had to approve it by December 10.
