Congress demands ‘white paper’ on Chandigarh civic body’s financial health

Chandigarh Pradesh Congress Committee president HS Lucky today demanded that the Municipal Corporation immediately issue a comprehensive ‘white paper’ on its financial health for the last 10 years.

He said during the Congress tenure, the MC maintained a fixed deposit of over Rs 500 crore, ensuring fiscal stability and the ability to fund developmental projects.

In a sharp contrast, today the corporation’s financial condition has deteriorated to such an extent that in order to survive it is being compelled to transfer its core assets to the Chandigarh Administration, Lucky added.

Highlighting recent developments, Lucky noted that the Chandigarh Administration has recently released Rs 125 crore to the Municipal Corporation. This amount was originally earmarked for power purchase, but after the privatisation of the power sector in Chandigarh, it remained unutilised. With approval from the Centre, these funds have now been reallocated for developmental purposes only.

The Congress has made it clear that Rs 125 crore must be strictly utilised for genuine development works and not for settling dues or liabilities. The party has proposed that the funds should be used for the development of V3 roads, which were wrongfully transferred to the Administration through, what the party terms, an “illegal agenda”. With the availability of these funds, the V3 roads should now remain under the MC, the Congress added.

If separate funds are later allocated by the Administration for V3 roads, then the Rs 125 crore must be redirected for the recarpeting of V4, V5 and V6 sector roads, which directly impact the daily lives of city residents, it added.