One flaw may yet do VMC in

VADODARA, June 28: As an unprecedented campaign, it was only natural that the Vadodara Municipal Corporation's five-pronged drive against co...

VADODARA, June 28: As an unprecedented campaign, it was only natural that the Vadodara Municipal Corporation8217;s five-pronged drive against constructions on road margins, buildings in parking lots, illegal water and drainage connections, defaulters of property tax and violators of fire safety norms should meet with an unprecedented response.

Actually, Municipal Commissioner G R Aloria8217;s intentions could not have been made more clear. Within a month of taking charge, he had pronounced, 8220;First, I want to clear the road margins and prepare a proper network for roads for the city. Next will come action against people flouting building permission norms.8221;

The warning was made good by the notices served soon afterwards on more than 800 shops and houses that had encroached on the road margin in upmarket localities like Sayajigunj and Alkapuri. These notices have since been reviewed and a second round of notices are on their way.

The Surat Phenomenon was repeated in Vadodara soon after the city realised the civic body meant business: nearly 50 shopkeepers and residents of Waghodia Road pulled down constructions that impinged on the road margin area in Town Planning roads. Three times that number followed their example in subsequent days.

More than 300 unauthorised drainage and water connections have been severed; at least 15 cases have been filed against builders. Some 30 high-rise buildings 8212; including the Gujarat Electricity Board, Narmada Bhavan, Kuber Bhavan and the Roads and Buildings office in Kothi 8212; and have been served notices for not meeting fire safety standards.

Between June 1 and 24, property tax defaulters have been compelled to pay up more than Rs 1.09 crore. Water connections of 231 parties who refused to pay have been cut off. In April the collection was Rs 1.79 crore and in May Rs 63.72 lakh.

The VMC8217;s record, however, risks being blotched by its callousness towards slum-dwellers. For want of facilities at the relocation sites, slum-dwellers are trickling back to their original homes. More than 135 people shifted to Chhani from Gorwa did exactly that within two months of being relocated.

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That slum-dwellers do not rank too high on the VMC8217;s priority list is evident: Aloria recently said, 8220;Only those who have been living at a site for years will be provided for, not everyone8221;. The VMC just may end up paying a high price for this attitude.

In another parallel with Surat, Aloria8217;s single-handed activism is giving sleepless night to the elected wings, which fears being overshadowed. And predictably, a section of councillors have covertly expressed reservations against 8220;drives of such magnitude8221;.

Aloria, however, seems determined to complete what he has started, stating emphatically that he has received no go-slow request. He has made it clear that unauthorised water connections will not be regularised 8212; as the councillors want 8212; and that notices to illegal constructions will be followed up with concrete action. His immediate priority, however, is clearing the road margins.