AMC goes slum savvy, to upgrade 200 chawls

The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) will pay special attention to the slum development projects in its 2008-09 budget for the city. The civic body intends to upgrade 200 chawls in the coming fiscal year, which will be 150 more than the previous year.

Municipal commissioner I P Gautam said on Tuesday that education, health, sanitation and anganwadis would get the maximum administrative attention in the slum projects. He said the user charges proposed in the budget would be in accordance with the JNNURM guidelines.

According to these guidelines, user charges are to be levied in full from the citizens. This will make it imperative for the AMC to complete the 100 percent levy over three years.

The next fiscal being the second year, the AMC is obliged to take the tax hike to 65 per cent of user charges in the next fiscal.

When asked if the budget would follow the JNNURM norms in tax collection, Gautam said the administration would do what it was expected to in moving tax proposals and the elected wing would do what it deems fit after that.

He did not comment when asked that the next year being a general election year, would the ruling BJP venture beyond a point when it comes to taxing the people.

About encroachments in the city, he said the official figure of people likely to be affected was 10,000 or more. But since there was a court directive about not displacing them without offering an alterative arrangement, he said, there was little that the AMC could do in this regard.

“We have finalised seven public plots where they can be shifted,” he said when asked if the encroachments were going to be a permanent feature.

Gautam was hopeful of the AMC's financial position being sound enough to carry on the capital projects involving large sums to meet the cost.

The civic bonds would be issued at opportune time when the market conditions became favourable, he said. “We have already got an extension of credit rating for raising money from open market through the bonds issue,” he said.