The Statesman 21.05.2013
KMC to begin work on LF-era housing project
Corporation (KMC) has started a project to construct flats for poor
people that was initiated by the erstwhile Left Front government five
years ago.
The KMC will begin constructing the flats under the
Basic Services for Urban Poor (BSUP) project at Canal South Road this
month after an inordinate delay. In 2008 the project was initiated by
the civic body and the cost has escalated by 60 per cent owing to delay.
In 2009, the civic body received more than two acres land from
Kolkata Improvement Trust (KIT) where the flats will come up. The
KMC failed to find a contractor to construct the flats even after
floating several tender in the past four years.
The Rs 41-crore
project to construct flats at Canal South Road was taken up under the
Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM) scheme. As per
JnNURM norms, the Centre and the state government provided 70 per cent
of Rs 41 crore, while the KMC would have to pitch in with the remaining
30 per cent of the total project cost. Beneficiaries will give Rs 1.5
crore before receiving the flats. Five five-storied buildings will come
up on the plot. The construction of the flats will start next week and
is likely to be completed within a year.
The civic body has
taken four years to start construction of flats at Canal South Road due
to its faulty planning, lack of foresight and lackadaisical attitude, a
civic official said.
In the last financial year, the KMC failed
to utilise Rs 31 crore under the JnNURM scheme and the money was
returned to the ministry of Urban Development. The Centre had allocated
Rs 498.48 crore during the 2011-12 financial year. The KMC could
utilise only 14 per cent of the funds received for BSUP project under
the JnNURM scheme. Flats were supposed to come up at Rajarghat,
Kacharipara, Hatgachia, Anandanagar, Jalpara, Garden Reach, Pagladanga,
Topsia and Banerjeepara under the scheme. None of the projects has
started.
The JnNURM grants to the civic body were withdrawn a few
weeks ago as the KMC failed to utilise the grants, and the KMC has been
asked to return the grants, along with an interest of nine per cent.
Last month senior officials of the ministry of Urban Development also
expressed their dissatisfaction over the failure of the KMC to utilise
the funds under the JnNURM scheme at a meeting in KMC headquarters.
