Austerity, not hike in taxes, need of the hour

Residents want new Mayor to streamline traffic, resolve parking issues, improve roads & provide 24×7 power & water supply

I want new Mayor not to waste money on useless tours. Her priorities should be increasing green cover of the city, recover pending property tax dues, relocate vendors and provide basic facilities at sites to them. The Mayor should look into pollution problems, ban plying of diesel auto-rickshaws and polluting commercial vehicles in the city. She should make sincere efforts to solve parking woes by constructing more underground or multi-storey parking lots in the city. She should focus on garbage management and segregation in the city. Maintaining hygiene, maintenance and cleaning of storm water drains, permanent solution for unauthorised PG/guests houses in residential areas, improving public transport infrastructure, decongestion of roads, 24×7 water and electricity supply, bringing Chandigarh at number one as per Smart City parameters and transferring unwilling and non-working employees to root out corrupt officials include the issues, which require Mayor’s immediate attention.

Col KJ Singh (retd), Chandigarh

Seek professional help to set priorities

It seems that whosoever comes to power sets his/her priorities. He/she announces tariff hike for various services without calculation by any professional source. There are various things, which need Mayor’s attention, including maintaining cleanliness in markets, parks and various other important places of the City Beautiful. There is also a dire need to look in the problem of waste management plant due to which heaps of garbage have piled up at the dumping site. Parking is another problem, which Mayor has to include in her priorities to stop inconvenience to commuters. Mayor must find outcomes of previous tours of counsellors. Putting extra burden on taxpayers’ to make few individuals happy is not a good move.

Wg Cdr Jasbir Singh Minhas (retd) Mohali

Financial health of MC worrisome

All the time Municipal Corporation is crying for funds, but organising lavish functions and study tours. Austerity should be observed when spending goes beyond resources of the MC. In the present circumstances, the Mayor should not allow councillors to go on study tours and waste taxpayers money. They should be deployed on other constructive jobs as after tours none comes up with new ideas to implemented in the City Beautiful. Increasing water tariff will only tax the common man. The need of the hour is to check loss of water in supply lines through leakages and wastage in colonies. Chandigarh is already suffering on the development front for want of funds. All out efforts by political parties irrespective of their leanings should be made to get more grants from the Centre.

Bharat Bhushan Sharma, Chandigarh

Imposing new taxes a welcome step

Increase in water tariff and new Mayor’s initiative to generate revenue by imposing additional taxes is a welcome step. At the same time it is important is to cut wasteful expenditures and weed out corruption before tax hike. City residents have high expectations from new Mayor such as in improvement of solid waste management, work for better rank in cleanliness of the city, parking and rehabilitation of street vendors. Being a senior elected member the Mayor should take up issues concerning residents with the UT Administration. Her priority should be to get roads repaired and leave no scope for compromise on quality work. For study tour, only experienced councillors should be in team. If required retired engineers, defence personnel and bureaucrats can be included in the team, which should be result oriented and help for development of the city, after the study tour.

Col Balbir Mathauda (Retd), chandigarh

Push Centre for increasing grants

The newly elected Mayor Rajbala Malik has given a cue for levying additional taxes if required and continue study tours during her first interaction with the media. Residents are overburdened with taxes and heavy penalties on need based and so called violations. Besides, the Administration is not serious to settle issues with residents, traders and industry. The main priority of Mayor and councillors is to play role of mediator with the Administration to regularise need-based changes in houses and flats. In fact, the MP had promised to solve such issues during elections, but she couldn’t provide any solution. The Mayor should ensure waste segregation and processing, get roads repaired, improve management of existing parking lots, push the Centre for increasing grant and immediate release of funds to carry out development works in the UT and streamline reforms to achieve upper rank in Swachh Survekshan 2020. The Mayor should review her decision on study tours’ as these have not yielded any good results.

Sukhpal Singh, Chandigarh

Don’t burden common people

Despite annual increase in water tariff, the new Chandigarh Mayor is contemplating further hike. This is being done when the public is already reeling under five year high retail inflation of 7.3% . Agreed the MC needs to generate revenue for infrastructure and other public services, but certainly not by putting financial burden on common people. Before planning new projects the MC authorities should take stock of all ongoing works and complete these to avoid cost overruns. New projects should be need based, well deliberated at the appropriate forum and executed on time by not spending crores of public money. The MC must also retrospect and shun the culture of sending councillors on study tours. Social functions like stone laying or opening ceremonies should be avoided as such extravaganzas are just for political mileage at public cost. To augment revenue, certainly tax slabs could be enhanced on purchase of luxury cars and houses above 300 sqyds, PG/guest houses should be registered and appropriate sites should be auctioned for bill boards.

SS Arora, USA

Reduce misuse of public money

The newly elected Mayor Raj Bala Malik did not spare a thought while spending public money on needless Lohri festival. The rampant splurging of public money on needless activities like study tours, buying poor quality dustbins and other things is disturbing in the wake of long list of pending works with the Municipal Corporation. Such kind of wasteful expenditure causes unnecessary loss to the exchequer. Such money could be used for constructing better roads with illuminated signboards, improved pathways with lights, washrooms at public places, shelter homes for the poor and bus shelters. Officials concerned should not forget that this money comes from hefty fines and taxes, which the public pays. The MC should focus on integrated and comprehensive community development works governed by clear and transparent rules with appropriate yet effective expenditure plan. Councillors should spend public money allocated to them wisely. As Chandigarh is a developing city it would be better if we look forward to good infrastructure and world class affordable living, which is possible if funds are spent intelligently and misuse of public money is reduced.

BM Dhawan, Chandigarh

Don’t burn a hole in residents’ pocket

It is good to see a change in the Chandigarh MC leadership with the election of Raj Bala Malik as its new Mayor. The people of city will expect clean and better Administration from the new incumbent. At present, the MC is going through financial crisis. Hope, after donning the Mayor’s hat, she will keep overtaxed residents in good humour by not burning hole in their pocket. Chandigarh is not getting its requisite grant from Centre. She should completely ban study tours. It is colossal waste of taxpayers’ money.

Vidya Sagar Garg, Chandigarh

Mayor should use her past experience

The mindset of Mayor Raj Bala Malik (in her second term) seems still engrossed in minting money through taxes and honeymooning on study trips, thus spreading bitter ineffectiveness. Now, she should work effectively with all the experience gained in the past. She should mature now and contribute in practicing ideals and solving city’s problems, lingering on for decades. Vendor’s issue, parking mess and sanitation have to be solved on priority basis.

MPS Chadha, Mohali

Do not impose new taxes

I welcome the new Chandigarh Mayor Raj Bala Malik in the office and hope she performs as per the expectations of City Beautiful residents. She should not introduce new taxes as residents are already bearing the GST stick. Regarding the so-called study tours by councillors, she should restrict such ventures and allow only deserving cases. Not use such tours as personnel trips as is being done till now. I hope the new Mayor acts in a sensible manner and draws peoples’ applause.

RK Kapoor, Chandigarh

Taxes important for development

Taxes are not just revenue. They play an important role in development and growth of a city. Additional taxes are levied on residents for proper implementation and maintenance of new projects. Therefore, the MCC has to observe carefully the optimum requirement of revenue and paying capacity of the residents. New taxes should be imposed to absolute satisfaction of residents. Councillors should be allowed result-oriented study tours. They must submit a detailed study report after the tour is over.

Ravinder Nath, Chandigarh

Centre must enhance UT’s budget allocation

The proverbial dream city – Chandigarh – has always been in the spotlight for the wrong reasons. The New Year gift to city residents, coming from none other than the Mayor Raj Bala Malik’s proposal to enhance tax liabilities has come as a shot of the sledgehammer. Her statement came the day she assumed the. Batting for the continuation of study tours, the Mayor sent city residents into a tizzy. Instead of heaping additional burden on the taxpayers, who are already reeling under a slew of taxes, she must explore other options to generate revenue for the MC. She should mull over curtailing wasteful expenses and ask her colleagues to adopt austere measures. The Central Government needs to enhance budgetary allocations to make the MC bounce back to the pink of financial health. She needs to focus more on peoples’ concerns, like the traffic woes, parking pangs, improving road network, the menace of stray cattle and dogs, provision of clean drinking water and uninterrupted power and public transport.

Ramesh K Dhiman, Chandigarh

MC must set the house in order

The hike in water tariff will certainly make a dent in the pocket of common man, who is already moving on a shoe string budget due to skyrocketing prices of all essential commodities with no sign of abating. The authorities should stop splurging on unproductive projects like educational tours. It only depletes coffers of the civic body. Cash-starved authorities should exercise austerity measures, prioritise projects, ensure transparency, and time-bound completion of all works.

Veena Mahajan, Chandigarh

Mayor’s experience will count

Residents want the new Mayor to address development issues, start new projects to make living easier and hassle-free public services. Her experience during an earlier stint should help Mayor reduce enormous cost of governance. Her proximity to the MP and latter’s clout amongst powers that be should fetch liberal funds from the Union Government for major civic projects like the Metrorail and other smart ventures. She can strive for direct election of Mayor and a five-year term coterminous with the Municipal Corporation.

Lalit Bharadwaj, Panchkula

Taxpayers’ money wasted on tours

Already several development works are pending in the city for the want of funds. What is the use of going on pleasure trips and waste taxpayers money? Study tours in the past have given no results. The Mayor should rethink her decision to allow study tours for councillors.

Tarlok Singh, Mani Majra

Work for increasing income of civic body

The common person never grumbles while paying taxes. If after paying taxes there is no visible development in the city then it is obvious that the taxpayer will feel cheated. The new Mayor has hinted increasing taxes previous incumbents. No issue, but there should be development worth noticing in the city. A change of guard always brings changes some good and some bad. The new Mayor should concentrate only on development and increasing income of the Municipal Corporation. A Mayor must work neutrally irrespective of the party he/she belongs. There must be equal allocation of funds to all wards.

Bir Devinder Singh Bedi, Chandigarh

Study tours wastage of taxpayers’ money

Increase in tax is acceptable for development. The new Mayor wants to increase taxes. The hike should be in small percentage and used for development only. Spending this money on study tours or any recreation purpose is wastage of taxes. Even in last study tours public got nothing new.

Avinash Goyal, Chandigarh

MC cannot function as profit-making firm

No administrator or an elected representative has given any thought on development or solving water crisis. Kajauli water works supply line and pumping stations have to be completed without any further delay. Tubewell machinery has to be upgraded or replaced with new modern technology even if it involves a nominal hike in water tariff to fund the project. Running taps in colonies and slums should be repaired. Water storage capacity should be enhanced to at least two days from the current half-a-day routine. The UT MC first needs to give a roadmap for all projects and then demand a tariff hike. The MC has a social welfare duty. It cannot function as a profit making company and that too for water supply. If additional funds are required, the MC should enhance the tariff for high-end users (over 25 KL/pm).

Rajiv Boolchand Jain, Zirakpur

Mayor should be consumer friendly

Raj Bala Malik is an educated and considerate person. City residents expect her to learn from past mistakes of previous Mayors. Soon after assuming charge, she did well to approach UT Administrator to apprise him about the dire need of entitled Central grant every year. The new Mayor must know revenue receipts of the Union Government in the form of various taxes levied in Chandigarh. She must raise the pitch to get commensurate grant rather than making further holes in the pockets of consumers. Chandigarh is the Capital of Punjab and Haryana and a Union Territory. It has to be kept clean and green. Mayor must not think of taxing consumers’ as they are already a harried lot due to inept approach of all concerned in

the past.

SC Luthra, Chandigarh

Hike not justified in any way

Increasing water rates is almost everyone’s nightmare. The Chandigarh Municipal Corporation has been making tall claims about the 24×7 water supply. The MC should first supply pure drinking water to residents and then decide to increase the water tariff. Moreover, it should stop misusing funds at its disposal. Why should city councillors go on study tours on the taxpayers’ money? Why they want to recover the misused money from residents? It is not fair to double the water tariff. The MC should find some other solution to deal with the financial crunch.

Vijay Malia, Chandigarh

Improve cleanliness in City Beautiful

Going on study tours is wastage of money paid by residents in the form of taxes. Study can be done online as the MC is going through fiscal crunch. The UT Administration is simply trying to generate revenue by imposing water and property tax on residents. Instead, attention should be paid to basic amenities, including re-carpeting of roads, non-functional streetlights, lack of parking facility and augmenting public transport. Vendors occupying vacant spaces should be removed from every nook and corner of the city. More police personnel should be deployed to make residents feel secure. Stray cattle and dog menace should be curbed. Sanitation has to be improved by installing more dustbins in each sector and timely collect of garbage.

Abhilasha Gupta, Mohali

MC should learn from Delhi government

Why cannot the media ask the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation to take a lesson from the Delhi Government, which is giving 20,000 litres of water free and has not hiked electricity charges for the last five years.No harm in learning if the authorities concerned don’t know how to manage funds.

Naresh Khullar, Mani Majra

MC has already approved 5% increase

Chandigarh’s quality of life, roads and other infrastructure has deteriorated after the MC was formed. Every year, the MC spends huge amount on repair of water works. What happened to a project of bringing water from Ganguwal Power House (Anandpur Sahib)? In my opinion, either scrap the Chandigarh MC or do its cost benefit analysis.

Anil Sharma, Chandigarh

Civic body should curtail expenditure

Instead of resorting to tax hike, the MCC should curtail wasteful expenditure and cost of governance by 30% to provide comfortable breathing space to city residents. Stop wasting money on functions and study tours. Rationalise and reduce manpower. Link salaries of all employees to their performance. Look for more aid from the Central Government. Increasing taxes should be the last resort.

KC Rana, Chandigarh

Residents expect clean, better admn

It is good to see change in Chandigarh Municipal Corporation leadership with the election of Raj Bala Malik as its new Mayor. Change is always for the betterment. The people of Chandigarh will expect clean and better administration from the new incumbent. The main challenges, which need immediate attention of Mayor, include development of public transport infrastructure, improve traffic management, re-structuring network of roads, a long-term plan for removal of roundabouts and construction of flyovers wherever needed to decongest the traffic. Mayor should also give due attention to the 24X7 water and power supply, address the problem of poor sanitation, improve city’s rank in Swachh Survekshan, implement waste segregation at source and provide adequate parking space in all sectors. The Mayor must ensure that the Chandigarh airport is techno-commercially viable for all airlines so that more domestic and international flights resume their operation.

Sanjay Chopra, Mohali

MC should wait for Budget

The idea of the authorities to increase water tarrif is completely wrong . The new Mayor has said that taxes can be increased if needed. She also said study tours would continue, which is clear waste of money. We will have to pay councillors study tours. The budget is coming and there is no shortage of water. There is no need to increase MC’s income by hiking taxes. Instead, the MC should wait for the Budget. Study tours should be stopped.

Saikrit Gulati, Chandigarh

The new Mayor started her tenure by levying fresh taxes. The BJP has already gifted property, house, sewer and water taxes to the city. I strongly oppose this burden. The BJP has failed to keep its promises made during the MC and Lok Sabha elections. Instead, the Mayor is planning to go for a study tour. I hope the Mayor will think about this.

Devinder Babla, Opposition leader, MC

It is unfortunate that we lack serious persons to look after the needs of the city. Increasing tax burden on residents and imprudent use of finances is deplorable. We don’t have much hopes from the MC in near future. The efforts of our association to involve the public for making the city better often go unreciprocated.

RK Garg, President, Second Innings assn

Politicians have ruined the City Beautiful. Hike in taxes is not a problem. Judicious use of funds and transparency in the MC is required. Funds spent by MC officials should be monitored. Increase in water tariff is unjustified. Officials should learn to manage from the Delhi Government. Tours are just an entertainment on taxpayers’ money.

Rahul Mahajan, Horticulturist

New Mayor has indicated 5 per cent annual increase in water tariff. It will add insult to injury for the common man, who strives hard to earn livelihood. If the Delhi Government can provide water at nominal rates, why can’t the MC do so in Chandigarh? The MC should cut its unnecessary expenses.

Pankaj Gupta, President, Sector 38 West RWA

Shame on the city BJP for increasing property tax and now hiking the water tariff. Did they promise water tariff hike in there election manifesto? Why are they imposing one tax after another? They should involve city residents in every decision. The MC should bring an agenda in the House to stop approved hike in water tariff.

Puneet Jain, Hotelier

QUESTION

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has listed several measures for the safety of schoolchildren, including providing right of way to school buses, seat belts for all children and ban on ferrying more than four school kids in auto-rickshaws. Do you think these measures will help make roads safer for schoolchildren?

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