Deadline nears, govt offices feel rental stress

Rajmeet Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 25

Keen on saving around Rs 40 crore a month, the Punjab Government has set July 31 as the deadline for its offices to vacate rented private buildings. However, the respective district authorities are not prepared to move out. Adequate government accommodation is not available, even as the departments concerned will no longer get rental money from the government.

Dozens of offices across the state will feel the pinch next month.

The Finance Department has told all heads of department to ensure that all such offices shift by the month-end. Instructions have been issued to the deputy commissioners to facilitate the move.

“From August 1, the departments concerned will have to foot the rent bill. The deadline will not be extended,” Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal told The Tribune on Monday. The department is particularly concerned about offices that continue to function from rented accommodation despite having their own buildings.

The exercise to shift offices to government accommodation has revealed strange arrangements that were in place for decades — underutilisation of space, employees’ tendency to shirk work, shady deals to benefit private parties, and encroachment.

While some districts have dozens of offices without accommodation, the situation varies drastically from one to another. In Chandigarh, the Department of Social Welfare and the office of the DGP (Jails) are looking for accommodation. The latter, which is paying a monthly rent of Rs 4.73 lakh in Sector 17, has sought time to continue there till alternative arrangements can be made.

In Ludhiana district, about 15 government offices in the city and various towns are located in rented buildings, with the bill usually being more than Rs 1 lakh per month.

HUNT FOR ALTERNATIVES

In most districts, the district administrative complex (DAC) was either already full, or has now been filled up, with many offices still to be accommodated. Some districts are moving certain offices to rural areas, which might cause inconvenience to the visiting public.

In Ferozepur, around a dozen offices are looking for premises at the district headquarters and various subdivisions, but Public Works Department (PWD) officials say there is no space in the DAC now. Deputy Commissioner Ramvir, however, says he is not aware of any office operating out of a private building. However, in case there is any, it will be shifted, he adds.

Mansa is better off, with only two offices yet to be shifted. Muktsar is trying to solve the problem by shifting some offices to government buildings in villages. For instance, the District Horticulture Officer, Muktsar, has been shifted to Badal village. Deputy Commissioner Sumeet Jarangal says the DAC has very little space to spare.

The Bathinda administration has thus far been able to shift only four of the eight offices that applied for accommodation. The agriculture office in Phul town had a unique arrangement of functioning from rooms in a gurdwara. Deputy Commissioner Diprava Lakra hopes to meet the deadline.

In Nawanshahr, the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum is being moved to the old Civil Surgeon’s office.

Hoshiarpur is much better placed, with ample space available in the Mini Secretariat, which has offices for all departments, including Labour, Languages, Poultry and Agriculture.

FINANCES, IRREGULARITIES

In Chandigarh and neighbouring Mohali, the government has been paying about Rs 70 lakh as rent for 30 accommodations — with half of them locked in litigation with landlords, according to details that emerged during an in-house exercise carried out the Department of General Administration. Across the state, the monthly rent is around Rs 40 crore.

Many landlords are upbeat over the prospect of getting their property back. In several cases, the market rates over the years had risen to far more than what the government paid, such as in Sectors 22, 17 and 34, Chandigarh. Sumit Marwaha, owner of the building that houses the Punjab Human Right Commission in Sector 34, says he has been in litigation over the property as the market rate is thrice the rent the government is paying him. There are at least 15 such cases in Chandigarh alone.

Nawanshahr has also reported such discrepancies in market and government rates.

Some officials, however, have a different view. One of them who was yet to shift to government accommodation, when asked who will pay the rent from August, said, “We will request the owner to give us exemption for a month, to which he should agree. After all, the space we are vacating will be given out for thrice the amount we pay.”

METHOD IN MADNESS

No one seems to know what exactly is the procedure to go about hunting for alternative accommodation. Innovation is, therefore, the key.

In Chandigarh, the Department of General Administration has been asked to provide space in government buildings for all 30 state offices located in the city.

Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner Pradeep Aggarwal says all supervisory officers of various affected departments have approached the administration, but “we have expressed our helplessness for the simple reason that there is no space available in the Mini Secretariat. The departments have been asked to take up the issue with their respective headquarters.”

Though no official in Ferozepur would give specific information, sources say the PWD office had asked for requirements from various departments, but many offices gave incorrect data as they did not wish to operate from the DAC, which they feared would entail greater supervision and, thus, more work.

Nawanshahr DC Sonali Giri says they have put in a request to continue with eight to nine departments in rented spaces as they have no alternative.

Hoshiarpur DC Vipul Ujjwal says for the larger offices that need around 15 rooms, they plan to write to the government for digitisation of records or provide them modern furniture for better space utilisation.

Favours, squatting too

FARIDKOT: In the absence of its own premises, the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) here is operating from a building on a monthly lease of Rs 55,000 for more than four years. Situated around 3 km from Faridkot town, this building catering to Faridkot, Moga, Ferozepur and Fazilka districts is located on the Ferozepur road, close to a mortuary and wastewater drain. This arrangement has been continuing despite the fact that many vacant government buildings are available within the town. According to sources, the office on the outskirts was taken at an exorbitant rent because the owner of the building was close to an Akali leader. The agreement for Rs 55,000 per month also has a clause for 25 per cent increase in the rent every three years. PPCB Executive Engineer Harpal Singh said they would be shifting out soon.

MOGA: Some police stations — such as Moga City (South), Charik village, and Fatehgarh Panchtoor village — are functioning from private buildings. The building housing Moga City (South) police station belongs to Arya Samaj Public School, and has not been vacated despite many requests from the school. The police department had occupied the building during the days of militancy.

(Inputs from Kuldip Bhatia, Balwant Garg, Anirudh Gupta, Nikhila Pant Dhawan, Archit Watts, Kulwinder Sandhu, Sukhmeet Bhasin and Deepkamal Kaur)