The Indian Express              22.04.2013

MC yet to act against govt depts defaulting on dues

The Municipal Corporation might have tightened the noose around city residents who are defaulting on payment of water bills in its ongoing drive, but the civic body is yet to act against the government departments which owe a few crores to the Municipal Corporation. However, MC officials claim that this is the first phase of the drive and in the second phase, the government departments would be targeted.

Among the defaulters is the Horticulture Department that has pending bills amounting to Rs 1.5 crore. The amount has been pending for several years. Around two years back, most of the greenbelts and gardens that were with the UT Administration were transferred to the Municipal Corporation. Along with the greenbelts, the liabilities were also transferred to the civic body.

Other prominent defaulters are the police headquarters with a pending amount of Rs 20 lakh and the Punjab Civil Secretariat with a pending amount of Rs 13 lakh. Several other departments are also yet to clear the bills.

Chairperson of the Water Supply and Sewerage Disposal Committee Shagufta Parveen feels the same treatment should be meted out to everyone. "Whether it is government departments or city residents, everyone should be treated on a par. Pending dues should also be collected from the government departments. The positions of the defaulters should not matter," she said.

However, Superintending Engineer (Public Health) R C Diwan said, "As far as the government departments are concerned, it is simply transfer of money from one pocket to the other. We can recover the money at any time. This is the first phase of our drive to recover pending bills. In the second phase, we will shift focus to the government departments."

He added, "Since we started the drive, people are coming forward to clear their dues. The fear of disconnection of meters has ensured that long-pending bills are now being cleared."

Since the drive started on April 12, pending dues worth Rs 70 lakh have been collected. It is expected that around Rs 4 to 5 crore would be collected within a month.

The city receives 87 million gallons daily (mgd) of water, of which 67 mgd is from Kajauli and the remaining from tubewells. During peak summers, the demand increases to 113 mgd. While the demand is increasing with the growing population, over the past few years the supply has remained constant.

The project to start the next two phases of Kajauli to get additional water has been hanging fire due to the dispute between Punjab and Haryana over sharing of water. The proposal prepared by Chandigarh for augmentation of water supply went into cold storage despite a clearance by the Centre after refusal of the Punjab government to release water.

The Hindu                   22.04.2013

State to help local bodies make more money on their own

Staff Reporter

The State government will shortly prepare a comprehensive roadmap for municipalities and corporations to equip them better for creating independent income generating assets, Minister for Urban Affairs Manjalamkuzhi Ali has said.

This plan is to help the local bodies tide over the shortage of financial resources for local development.

Mr. Ali was speaking at a face-to-face programme organised by the Graduates Association of Consultant Engineers (GRACE) at Gateway Hotel, here, on Sunday.

Pointing out that the municipalities and corporations in Kerala were far behind in setting up revenue generating enterprises, Mr. Ali said it could be changed by venturing into more Public Private Partnership (PPP) programmes in the State. He quoted the new bus stand in Kannur as an example for successful ventures on the part of municipalities to generate additional income.

The Minister also said a special investors’ meet would be convened in Kozhikode, Ernakulam, and Thiruvananthapuram districts, in August to think of the possible regional developmental projects for the districts. On April 23, a preliminary discussion on the subject would be held in Thiruvananthapuram, he added.

Explaining the high flow of NRI investments to Kerala, the Minister said it should be channelised fruitfully for the local infrastructure development.

“As per official figures, the annual revenue coming to our country through Non-Resident Indians is around Rs.3.50 lakh crore of which a major share is from Non Resident Keralites,” he observed.

Referring to a latest action plan of the government to support the restructuring of old buildings in urban areas, Mr. Ali said the project would help several building owners to complete the rebuilding work without any fears of decrease in the existing space.

“Till now, the owners of such buildings were keeping away from such attempts fearing it would cause them a huge loss of existing space due to the rigid rules and regulations in the sector,” he added.

Reiterating the open stance of the government towards constructive criticisms against the proposed city master plans, the Minister said the concerns of all sections would be taken care of by the government. The master plans would be implemented only after clearing all anxieties of the public and rectifying the slip-ups, he assured.

The Urban Affairs Minister also made it clear that the government would not ask for any relaxation of the existing Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules in favour of the construction industry. “The limit fixed on construction activities by the CRZ should be continued as such for the wellbeing of the coming generation,” he said.

Anil Joseph, State president of GRACE, presided over the face-to-face programme.