Civic body clears over Rs 50L park upkeep dues of RWAs

The Municipal Corporation has released over Rs 50 lakhs to 114 residents welfare associations (RWAs) maintaining parks in the city.

The information has been given by MC officials in response to the questions asked by BJP councillor Maheshinder Singh Sidhu. It will be placed in the MC General House meeting on November 28.

Sidhu said he had sought information from the MC as he had been receiving complaints from various RWAs about not receiving the payment regularly.

In majority of cases, the payment has been made till March this year.

Sidhu said this showed that payment of seven months was yet to be released.

Resident associations had been claiming that monthly maintenance payment was not released regularly during the past one year. The absence of funds made it difficult to maintain neighbourhood parks.

Baljinder Singh Bittu, chairman of Federation of Sectors Welfare Association Chandigarh (FOSWAC), demanded that the MC should immediately clear all dues of RWAs.

Representing over 80 RWAs of the city, FOSWAC also wrote a letter to the MC Chief Engineer in this regard last month.

RK Garg, a resident of Sector 27, said the condition of parks in many sectors was pathetic.

Some associations have already surrendered the maintenance work after not receiving funds for the past several months. The residents of those areas said the parks were now in a dilapidated condition.

Hitesh Puri, chairman of Chandigarh Residents’ Associations Welfare Federation (CRAWFED), said the RWAs associated with the federation were also finding it difficult to maintain parks. These RWAs maintain around 45% of the city’s neighbourhood parks.

The civic body gives fixed monthly amount to RWAs for maintenance of parks.

Sidhu said if the payment was not made regularly, the whole purpose of involving the resident bodies in the scheme would be defeated.