Chairmen removed, Improvement Trusts in spotlight again

Rajmeet Singh

Chandigarh, March 31

With the change of guard in Punjab, the removal of the Congress-appointed chairmen of 29 Improvement Trusts has once again brought to fore the poor fiscal health of these institutions and ad-hocism in their functioning.

Poor fiscal health

Patiala Improvement Trust: Rs40 crore Debt

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• Worse, most of its properties have been attached
• Many properties lying unutilised due to lack of planning

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Jalandhar Improvement Trust: Rs 370 crore Debt

• This includes Rs 150 crore as acquisition amount and Rs 100 crore as land enhancement cost

Most of the 29 Improvement Trusts, which come under the Department of Local Government, are in a political mess as financial liabilities run into crores of rupees.

Sample this: the Patiala Improvement Trust is reeling under a debt of around Rs 40 crore. To make matters worse, most of its properties have been attached in cases related to non-payment of dues, making it difficult for banks to grant loan to the trust. Many properties are lying unutilised due to lack of planning or some other reason.

The Jalandhar Improvement Trust faces a fiscal liability of around Rs 370 crore. This includes around Rs 150 crore as acquisition amount and Rs 100 crore as land enhancement cost (to be paid to farmers for land acquisition). The corporation also has to pay Rs 97 crore as loan amount to Punjab National Bank.

Ludhiana Improvement Trust former chairman Raman Subramanian said the government should appoint senior officers to assist the politically appointed chairmen and that there was need to get rid of land mafias.

“The Ludhiana and Amritsar Improvement Trusts are among a few institutions that are in sound financial health. The staff in most of the Improvement Trusts have never been transferred out,” said an official.

The basic mandate of Improvement Trusts was to be self-sustaining by developing new townships, colonies and urban infrastructure. However, civic bodies later took over these institutions.

As tools of political expediency, these institutions help the ruling party to award its loyalists with membership or chairpersonship of these bodies. It was for this reason the government decided against abolishing them, say sources.

A senior government functionary said crores of rupees are pending on account of non-construction fees and land enhancement cost.

Dinesh Bassi, former chairman of the Amritsar Improvement Trust, said an audit of the trust record could reveal crore of rupees as dues from buildings sold out or given on lease.

During the previous Congress government, the Local Bodies Department had directed all 29 Improvement Trusts to sell off their assets that had been lying unattended for the past several years, leading to liabilities.