BJP-controlled Shimla MC’s performance dismal: CPM

Tribune News Service

Shimla, June 23

The CPM has dubbed the two-year performance of the BJP-controlled Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) as dismal, accusing it of increasing the tax burden on people and indulging in wasteful expenditure.

Senior party leader and former Mayor Sanjay Chauhan said the performance of the SMC in the past two years was dismal. Acute water crisis created due to inept handling of the situation last year was no less than a nightmare and the SMC only burdened the people by hiking water charges, garbage collection charges and house tax.

The CPM succeeded in getting the control of Shimla water supply back from the government and the Greater Shimla Water Supply and Severage Circle was constituted, which took several initiatives like replacement of pumps, plugging leakages in pipelines and repairs of tanks, helping in increasing water pumping from 28-30 MLD to 50 MLD. Last year’s water crisis was the result of “mismanagement”, which brought a bad name to Shimla, he added.

“The issue of water bills on the basis of actual meter reading has been hanging fire and instead of new water meters, consumers are getting inflated bills on the basis or average consumption and some even got hefty bills after three or four years,” Chauhan said.

The Shimla Smart City project was granted to the state capital for rejuvenation and modernisation through the High Court’s intervention, but no progress had been made in the past two years due to indifference attitude of the government.

“The sanitation system has collapsed, heaps of garbage are an eyesore and pollution levels have increased due to decomposition of garbage lying in the open. The solid waste management plant at Bharyal is not functioning. The SMC and the state government are not showing any interest in implementing the schemes for parking, construction of a footbridge, houses for urban poor, labour hostels, construction of tunnels and lifts and modern parks,” he added.

The proposal to shift sabzi mandi, grain market, timber market and transport areas to ease congestion had also been hanging fire, he stated.