SAS Nagar, December 23
The local Municipal Council plans to begin work on its new office complex in Sector 68 next month. The matter will be put up before a general meeting of the civic body scheduled to be held on December 26.
Stating this here yesterday, the council president, Mr Kulwant Singh, said that the matter had taken on urgency and the Punjab and Haryana High Court had on December 20 directed the vacation of a part of the rented premises in Phase VII by June 30 next year.
He said PUDA had earmarked 1.10 acres in Sector 68, but the land was being allotted to the council at a commercial rate of Rs 9,000 per sq yd. The council had, therefore, been pressing PUDA to reduce the rate. Now at a meeting held yesterday PUDA officials had agreed to allot the piece of land at the rate of Rs 3900 per sq yd plus some other expenses. A letter in this connection would be sent to the civic body soon.
Lakhs of rupees have gone down the drain as rent with the council failing to get land for its office building. Ever since its formation in 1984 the civic body (earlier the Notified Area Committee) had been functioning on rented premises in the Phase VII market. The office premises at present, were spread over different buildings with the total rent exceeding Rs 45,000 per month. The building which the council had been told to vacate by the court has been rented at Rs 12,872 per month.
