Forensic audit report of four MCs by June-end

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 3

The forensic audit report of four Municipal Corporations of Amritsar, Jalandhar, Patiala and Ludhiana will be made public by June-end.

Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu said this while addressing a press conference at Punjab Bhawan here today.

Assigned to Grand Thorton, the exercise is also being carried out in three improvement trusts - Kharar, Zirakpur and Rajpura - for works related to water supply, sewerage, sewage treatment plants (STPs) and town planning. More local bodies will be audited in phases.

The exercise was preceded by suspension of officers for messed up local government projects in Ludhiana and Amritsar.

“The local government will soon bring out an updated outdoor advertisement policy as the existing policy lacked teeth,” Sidhu said, adding, “Haryana with 68 towns was managing annual revenue of Rs 270 crore against a paltry Rs 20 crore by Punjab from 168 towns.”

Navjot Singh Sidhu said as many as 182 appointment letters would be issued in the highly understaffed department within this month. At least 500 more appointments would be done later this year.

The department had sent a proposal worth Rs 490 crore to strengthen the fire services to the Director General, Fire, last week along with another Rs 262-crore proposal to buy fire equipment to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

Navjot Singh Sidhu added that Rs 495 crore had been released for the BRTS project in Amritsar. It would have three corridors within 31-km radius.

Key announcements 

• Building maps will be passed online after September
• e-governance project will start functioning from December
• LED installation will be completed by November
• Policy against stray dogs before December-end 
• All development projects will have boards displaying prominently the date of commencement of project and its conclusion along with names and contact numbers of officers