Over half of Panchkula civic bodys development funds remain unspent

With the ongoing fiscal ending in a week,the Panchkula Municipal Corporations development claims fall flat as over 50 per cent of its proposed funds of around Rs 32 crore remain unspent.

Listen to this article

00:00

1x 1.5x 1.8x

With the ongoing fiscal ending in a week,the Panchkula Municipal Corporations development claims fall flat as over 50 per cent of its proposed funds of around Rs 32 crore remain unspent. Even as the remaining amount is carried forward in next years budget,councillors rue it is an oft-repeated scenario.

The MC had proposed a total expenditure of over Rs 44 crore,of which Rs 32 crore was earmarked for development works. Till March,the MC could,however,only spend approximately Rs 15 crore. The proposed expenditure for 2010-11 is around Rs 46 crore. Councillors attribute the inability to utilise the entire amount to various reasons from political infighting to slow administrative machinery.

The MC has been in the thick of controversy with the office of the now ex-president,Ravinder Rawal,declared null and void by the district court. Councillors claim with the House being a divided lot,this has hampered developmental plans. There is a lot of internal strife in the House,making it difficult to reach a consensus on various projects, former councilor B B Singal said.

Sources said at times works were deliberately stalled due to personal differences between councillors.

Another common complaint was lack of manpower in the MC. At present,the MC has nine posts of junior engineers lying vacant. Similarly,two posts of mechanical engineers and one of executive engineer need to be filled.

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram