Chandigarh Municipal Corporation House meet today, solar plants, fire tenders on table

Chandigarh, January 8

The budget estimate for Rose Festival, equipping 110 buildings with rooftop solar plants and procuring 11 firefighting vehicles are among agenda items to be taken up by the Municipal Corporation in its General House meeting on Tuesday. It will also be the last meeting of incumbent Mayor Anup Gupta.

With no light and sound show proposed, the estimate for the three-day Rose Festival to be held in February has been halved from Rs 2.19 crore to Rs 98.76 lakh.

Rose Fest budget cut to half

• MC to clear estimate for three-day Rose Festival, which has been halved from Rs 2.19 cr to Rs 98.76 lakh
• Civic body will take call on the proposal to buy 11 firefighting vehicles at a cost of Rs 6.90 crore
• Budget for rooftop solar plants will also be taken up by the MC House

In the previous edition of the festival, the city Municipal Corporation had approved Rs 1 crore only for the light and sound show. This had taken the total estimated expenditure of the event to Rs 2.19 crore, the highest-ever.

Also, the MC has proposed to buy new firefighting vehicles. Of the total 21 such vehicles, 16 have already completed their lifespan. The MC has planned to buy 11 diesel vehicles with a budget of Rs 6.90 crore.

According to the fire wing, 16 vehicles are more than 15 years old. As per instructions of the Union Government, all vehicles that have completed a lifespan of 15 years are required to be disposed of. Hence, the old vehicles are being replaced with the new ones so that the operational work do not suffer.

Five water bowsers of 12,000 Iitre capacity each and six small water/foam tenders have been proposed to be purchased.

Besides, rooftop solar power units worth over Rs 5.4 crore have been planned in road division 1, Rs 6.98 crore in road division 2 and Rs 5.12 crore in road division 3.