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Now, Kolkata Municipal Corporation stakes claim to Gandhi Bhawan

Monday, 27 August 2012 09:06 administrator
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The Times of India    27.08.2012

Now, Kolkata Municipal Corporation stakes claim to Gandhi Bhawan

KOLKATA: The Gandhi Bhawan controversy has taken yet another turn with the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) claiming rights over the property. The civic body has had management control over the historic property since 1981 and the authorities have documents to prove this, said mayor Sovan Chatterjee. The owners of the property, however, denied KMC's claims.

Hyderi Manzil or Gandhi Bhawan hit headlines last December when the United Bank of India (UBI) issued a notice, putting the property on auction. The bank had then claimed that it held the property on mortgage. But the auction was stalled after the move drew criticism from several quarters.

"The state government had passed on management control of the property to the KMC in 1981. Ever since, the KMC has been in charge of maintaining the building and we have papers to support this. Accordingly, work on maintenance has also begun. The locals are with us and we shall make sure that the property is duly maintained," the mayor said. The civic body has started putting up a fence around the maidan.

Chatterjee's claims found support in local MLA Paresh Pal who donated money from his local area development fund to set up the fence. "KMC is the legal custodian of the property. Some promoters are trying to stake a claim to it, but we shall not let that happen. This is a historic building and the adjoining space has always been a playground. It will remain so," said Pal.

The owners of the building at 150 B Beliaghata Main Road, on the other hand, said that the property had not been given to KMC. "We had mortgaged a portion of the property to the bank. But it has never been taken over either by the state government or KMC. If they indeed had, then why are we still paying tax for the property?" asked Manabendra Ghosh, one of the owners. Ghosh has lodged a complaint against the takeover at the local police station. He added that even though the state government had announced a takeover, it never happened. "Neither were we paid any compensation nor informed about the takeover," said Ghosh.

Local clubs, which have fought against the auction of the property, rejected the owners' version. "They had mortgaged the building to the bank. It will be a pity if such a historic property is auctioned. Gandhiji had fasted here for 25 days and it's probably his strongest link with the city," said Sapan Kumar Ghosh of the local East Kulia Athletic Club. "We shall protect the building and the ground at any cost," said Alok Ghosh of the local Gandhi Smarak Samity.The Gandhi Bhawan controversy has taken a new turn with the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) claiming that they have had management control over the historic property since 1981. The civic authorities have got documents to prove this, according to mayor Shovan Chatterjee. It has also been pointed out that in 1982, the state government had apparently handed over the building at Beliaghata along with the adjoining Gandhi maidan to the civic body for maintenance. While the KMC has staked claim over the property and started putting up a fence around the maidan recently, the owners of the property have claimed that the KMC has no right over it and that it had not been taken over.

Gandhi Bhavan shot into controversy last December after the United Bank of India (UBI) issued a notice putting the property on auction. The bank had claimed that they held the property on mortgage. It led to a furore and protests from various quarters, following which the auction was stalled.

"The state government had passed on management control of the property to the KMC in 1981. Ever since, the KMC has been in charge of maintaining the building and we have papers to support this. Work on maintainance has been started accordingly. The locals are with us and we shall make sure that the property is duly maintained," said mayor Shovan Chatterjee.

The owners of the building at 150 B Beliaghata Main Road, on the other hand, claimed that the take-over was illegal and that the property had not been given to the KMC. "We had mortgaged a portion of the property to the bank. But it has never been taken over, either by the state government or the KMC. If they indeed had, then why are we still having to pay tax for the property?" asked Manabendra Ghosh, one of the owners. Ghosh has lodged a complaint against the take-over at the local police station.

He added that even though the state government had announced a take-over, it never happened. "We were not paid any compensation, nor informed about the take-over," said Ghosh.

Local MLA Paresh Pal, who has donated money from his local area development fund to put the fence, said the KMC was the legal custodian of the property. "Some promoters are trying to capture the historic property. But we sdhall not let them acquire it. This is a historic building and the adjoining space has always been a playground. They will remain so," said Pal.

Local clubs, which have fought against the mortgage of the property, rejected the owners' claims. They have never visited the building nor done anything to preserve it, they said. "They had mortgaged the building to the bank. It will be a pity if the property is auctioned for the building is a historic one. Gandhiji had fasted here for 25 days and it's probably his strongest link with the city," said Sapan Kumar Ghosh of the local East Kulia Athletic Club. "We shall protect the building and the ground at any cost," said Alok Ghosh of the local Gandhi Smarak Samity.

Last Updated on Monday, 27 August 2012 09:07
 

Staff shortage cripples Belgaum civic body

Monday, 27 August 2012 09:00 administrator
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The Times of India     27.08.2012

Staff shortage cripples Belgaum civic body

BELGAUM: The Belgaum City Corporation (BCC) has no superintendent engineer, no demolition squad, no veterinary officer, no permanent legal adviser, no revenue officer, no draughtsman, no food inspectors. The list is endless. The civic body requires 1,725 permanent staffers but it has only less than half the people - 804 to be precise -on the job. The rest of the posts have been lying vacant for the past decade. Reason why the civic body is one of the busiest, with employees turning up for work even on Sundays to finish the backlog of work. However, BCC commissioner Priyanka Mary Francis says the problem will be sorted out soon. According to the Cadre and Recruitment rule of 2011, Belgaum City Corporation should have eight assistant executive engineers, 32 assistant engineers and junior engineers, and four city engineers but now it has just four AEEs, 8 AE/JE and a city engineer.

The corporation is functioning without a superintendent engineer, council secretary, assistant commissioner, revenue officer, draughtsman, permanent legal adviser, council secretary, accounts officer, public relations officer, zonal commissioners, veterinary officer, assistant engineers in UGD and water and sanitation, survey supervisor, accountant, food inspectors and no burial ground watchman. For over a decade, many posts have been lying vacant. Among 1,725 permanent posts, it has just filled 804 posts. Apart from those vacancies filled on compassionate grounds, no fresh recruitment has been made since 2005-06. Even those were only to fill backlogs. For nearly ten years, the corporation is yet to take up general recruitment.

Due to this, some of the staffers are holding additional responsibilities other than the job allotted to them, which in turn is affecting administrative work. Some of the staffers have been working overtime but without any pay to meet the demands of the people. The corporation has been working without corporators for nearly ten months now after the state government superseded it. This has put more pressure on the staff. Officials have been trying hard to meet the public demand, with many of them unable to take leave and even coming to office on Sundays to finish pending work.

With no special squad for demolition, the onus is on other staffers in the corporation. The staff shortage has had an adverse impact on administration, a point conceded by BCC commissioner Francis.

"There is no doubt we have been facing staff shortage for the past many years. This was brought to the notice of the urban development secretary and the process for filling up the vacancies is going on and in days to come these vacancies will be filled," she said.

Last Updated on Monday, 27 August 2012 09:02
 

NMC seeks manpower to manage stray animals

Saturday, 25 August 2012 10:06 administrator
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The Times of India    25.08.2012

NMC seeks manpower to manage stray animals

NASHIK: The civic body has invited tenders for impounding stray animals and transporting them to the NMC's kondwada (animal pound) which was constructed to house the city's strays.A fortnight ago, corporators of prabhag 26 in Bhadrakali, Sufi Jin ( NCP) and Sameena Memon (Congress) had visited the area alongwith municipal commissioner Sanjay Khandare over the issue. The commissioner assured the corporators that he would look into the matter."In the Bhadrakali kondwada, a family has now made its home. The place was constructed for stray animals but is now lying abandoned.

while citizens face problems due to stray animals blocking busy streets. Ganjamal road is always full of strays. There is also a danger of the animals may being hit by vehicles," said Jin. "Our attempt is to make the kondwada functional and consequently make things easy for people and the animals as well," Jin added.NMC standing committee chairman Uddhav Nimse, had said that the NMC does not have the manpower or machinery to transport the animals. "Moreover, the responsibility does not end at just transporting stray animals, we have to also feed them," he said. On further probing Nimse added that no budgetary provision had been made for this.A senior engineer at the civic body's public works department said that the kondawada was constructed by the municipal council and was operational till the early 1990s.

The anti-encroachment departmentcaught and transported the animals while the divisional offices took care of the captured strays. An official said that due to lack of manpower, this exercise was stopped.The official said that after appointing the contractor once the bid process is complete the next step of feeding the animals would also be sorted out.

Last Updated on Saturday, 25 August 2012 10:08
 
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