Poor fund allocation to MC irks parliamentary panel

Sandeep Rana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 16 

Taking note of the pathetic financial condition of the Municipal Corporation (MC) Chandigarh, the Parliamentary Standing Committee (PSC) on Home Affairs has expressed its “anguish over shortfall of approximately Rs 682 crore” in the allocation of funds for the civic body for 2018-19 fiscal.

Against its demand of Rs 1,001 crore, the MC was allocated Rs 317 crore. The committee took note of the fact that the MC was in much difficulty while paying salaries of its employees. 

“Adding to the financial woes is the fact that the MC has a committed liability of Rs 45 crore per month and Rs 540 crore annually, which does not include any developmental work. The local bodies cannot be ignored and, therefore, its functioning needs to be strengthened by allocating more funds,” the PSC noted in its report presented to the Rajya Sabha on February 7.

“Excessive dependence of the MC on the UT Administration for funds is not desirable as the same will impair the autonomy that has been granted to the civic body. Therefore it is recommended that the UT Administration should chalk out a long- term strategy, in consultation with the local bodies concerned, to enable it to achieve financial autonomy,” the PSC observed.

The PSC also recommended that the UT Administration must impress upon the MC to explore possibilities for making its finances sustainable in the long run. The local bodies must use the power of taxation given to it under the law and collect taxes that are levied. 

“The UT of Chandigarh has also been allocated Rs 4,511.91 crore only in the 2018-19 Budget as against the projected demand of Rs 5,908.22 crore, which is a matter of concern for the committee. This significant shortfall will adversely affect the activities undertaken by the MC and purchase of power,” the PSC added. 

 “The committee, therefore, strongly recommends that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) must take up the matter of higher allocation to the UT with the Ministry of Finance at revised estimate (RE) stage,” the PSC stated. 

“Representatives of the UTs across the country have lamented the inadequacy of funds allocated. What rationale of this decline in allocation could be? The MHA must review capital requirements of the UTs in the first half of the next fiscal,” the committee added. 

“The Ministry should furnish the capital expenditure pattern of the UTs and outcome of review of their capital requirements to this panel. Details of allocation to all the UTs against the demand projected by them at the stage of RE 2018-19 should be provided to the committee,” the PSC added.

What the standing committee wants

• Excessive dependence of the MC on the UT Administration for funds is not desirable.
• A long-term strategy should be formulated to enable MC achieve financial autonomy.
• Impress the MC to explore possibilities for making its finances sustainable in the long run.  
• The local bodies must use the power of taxation to collect taxes that are levied.
• The MHA must take up higher allocation of funds to the UT with the Ministry of Finance.

Complete Tribune flyover project early 

Referring to the flyover project from Zirakpur to the Tribune Chowk road, the Parliamentary Standing Committee has recommended that all projects undertaken during 2017-18 and the new project undertaken with the NHAI funds must be completed/taken up for early completion for improving traffic in and around Chandigarh.