MC recovers Rs 2.8 cr from defaulters

Harshraj Singh

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, June 18

In a survey, the Municipal Corporation (MC) inspected 10,000 submersible pumps in various parts of city and has recovered Rs 2.80 crore from illegal pump users so far, an MC official said.

As the MC is struggling to improve its financial condition, Mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu has asked the officials to speed up the recovery drive. The Mayor has fixed a target of Rs50 crore for the recovery of water supply and sewerage charges this year.

He conducted a meeting with the officials of operations and maintenance wing on Monday to know about the status of submersible pumps and the recovery made so far. According to a source, the cash-strapped MC is yet to recover around Rs300 crore from defaulters, who have not paid their water supply and sewer charges.

An official of MC’s operations and maintenance wing said: “The Mayor has asked us to intensify the recovery drive. We have informed him that the survey to check the status of submersible pump is still under way and we will be able to make more recovery against illegal submersible pumps. Our teams are already working to ensure recovery in the right manner.”

Earlier, the MC had kicked off a survey to check illegal submersible pumps in the city and started charging ‘regularisation’ fee from users, who have installed submersible pumps without any permission at their houses, he said.

Opposing the survey, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leaders had demanded from the MC authorities and Mayor to stop charging any fee from residents for using submersible pumps at their houses. Akali councillors had even written to the Mayor that no fee should be charged by the civic body from submersible pump users.

Employees’ union postpones strike as Mayor assures release of salaries in next 15 days

Ludhiana: The Municipal Employees’ Sangarsh Committee has decided to postpone their pen-down strike that was supposed to start from Tuesday. Earlier, the committee members had announced to stage a protest and go on strike as the civic body had not released their salaries. An urgent meeting of employees’ committee was held at MC’s Zone-A office on Monday, which was attended by a large number of employees, Mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu and Senior Deputy Mayor Sham Sunder Malhotra. The Mayor and Senior Deputy Mayor assured the employees that their salaries would be released at the earliest. Committee Chairman Ashwani Sahota said they have postponed their strike and protest after getting an assurance from Mayor and Senior Deputy Mayor. He said: “We have given a period of 15 days to resolve the issue so that funds can be arranged from the government for employees’ salaries. We have demanded that the salary of all employees be released on time every month. The protest rally and strike have been postponed till July 4.” Facing fund crunch, MC is being accused of delaying the salary of employees for the past several months, but nothing has been done to improve its financial condition. According to information, the employees have not got the salary of May, while some employees have not even been paid for April. Meanwhile, Municipal Karamchari Dal President Chaudhary Yashpal said Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu should leave the alleged anti-employee policy and take steps to arrange the salary of employees, who are suffering these days. He said the minister should act against those persons, who actually force the officials to do wrong things. He said the minister had earlier assured to provide required equipment and safety kits to firemen, but nothing was done. If the salaries are not released on time, they would intensify their agitation, he said. TNS