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Bidhannagar Municipality has got swanky cubicles And Lakhs On Beautification But No Money for Roads

By ugesh sarkar, Section News
Posted on Mon May 26, 2008 at 04:15:33 AM EST

When it comes to essential services, Bidhannagar Municipality complains of being crippled by a funds crunch. It, however, has no such problem while spending lakhs on renovating its building.

For over a year now, the municipality has been complaining that it is short of funds because it could not collect property tax, following a Supreme Court order. Civic officials claim that's why they are finding it difficult to carry on maintenance and provide essential services.

The Bidhannagar Municipality has got swanky cubicles, glow signs and expensive furniture in a recent renovation spree but the road right outside the civic office is crumbling for want of repairs

Even a casual look around Salt Lake confirms the sorry state of affairs. Leave alone the rest of the township, even roads in front of the municipality have started to deteriorate even before monsoon's arrival. KMDA, which normally looks only after Broadway, has had to help out in repairing other roads. Garbage piles are scattered everywhere. To top it all, there is water shortage. The municipality blames all on funds shortage.

However, the claim evaporates when you consider how much the civic body is spending to beautify its building. An entire library has been built to house the municipality's magazine, Purabatayan. Expensive wooden benches have been placed near the chairman's room. The reception is getting decorative walls. The cost? A whopping Rs 10 lakh, said officials.

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Eyebrows were raised last year when six air-conditioners were bought for the rooms of the chairman, vice-chairman, opposition leader and for all three chairmen-in-council -- from the municipality's own resources.

Leader of the Opposition, Debashish Jana, questioned how the municipality is being extravagant without collecting property taxes. "The main source of income for a municipality is property tax. But tax collection has been stopped for a year, badly hitting civic services. How are the authorities maintaining such luxury? Has the government allotted extra money to the municipality? If so, what is the need to collect taxes? Jana asked.

Chairman Biswajiban Majumder was livid when asked whether the expense was justified. "Does it mean the municipality will seat idle till it starts collecting property taxes? Don't you know that the municipality receives funds from the government for maintenance work? It has nothing to do with property tax collection or daily essential services," he said.

Secretary of the West Bengal Municipal Association and Kamarhati Municipality chairman Gobinda Ganguly, however, said that unless the government sanctions special grants, these funds cannot be used for renovating municipality buildings. "However, the government may decide to sanction more grants to a municipality," Ganguly added.

Source: Suman Chakraborti From TNN 26/May/08

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