Municipal corporations (MC) of Jalandhar and Ludhiana are yet to recover dues of nearly Rs 11 crore from those who have been penalised for encroachment and illegal constructions. These compounding fees are pending for over five years,the corporations have told the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The reason,according to the corporations,is the acute shortage of manpower. Sample this: As against the sanctioned strength of 62 posts in both the corporations,only 13 have been filled. In affidavits to the court,the two corporations squarely blamed the Punjab government for not filling the posts,some of which are vacant for over 10 years. If the government fills these posts,then the amount can be recovered within six months,they claimed. The affidavits have been furnished in response to a petition filed by one Parbodh Chander Bali,who had moved court demanding recovery of compounding fees (a penalty imposed for raising a construction without seeking prior approval from the concerned authority) from the corporations. Taking cognisance,the court had sought information regarding compounding fee yet to be recovered and the number of notices issued to defaulters. Ludhiana MC has submitted that from August 2008 till now,notices have been issued to 5,216 defaulters. Of these,compounding fees from 3,364 defaulters have been recovered. In Ludhiana,against the 25 sanctioned posts of building inspectors,only one technical building inspector and three general inspectors are functioning as building inspectors. On the other hand,Jalandhar MC has submitted that shortage of technical building inspectors causes unnecessary delay in assessment process and the defaulters takes advantage of this. Against the sanctioned strength 37 MC staff,only 11 officials are working. In response,Punjab government has told the court that the process of selection of MC officials has been outsourced to Panjab University,Chandigarh. In his affidavit,Principal Secretary (Local Self government) Ashok Kumar Gupta has said that 50 per cent of posts of MC officials are filled by direct recruitment and the rest by promotion. He said Punjab was considering a proposal to increase direct recruitment to 75 per cent. The court adjourned the case for six weeks. Cong leaders slam corrupt JMC A group of Congress councillors and leaders today alleged rampant corruption in the Jalandhar Municipal Corporation (JMC). They asked corporation officials to bring impartiality in functioning by installing boards displaying details of projects in each ward. Addressing mediapersons here,Congress councillors led by leader of Opposition Jagdish Raja said the badly maintained roads were proof of the way the JMC worked.
