MC rides away with Rs 44.6 lakh from two parking lot auctions

The paid parking lot near Piccadily Square, Sector 34, was auctioned for Rs 16 lakh, while the reserve price was Rs 4 lakh. The parking lot in Sector 22, opposite the bus stand, was auctioned for Rs 28.6 lakh against the reserve price of Rs 19.5 lakh.

The civic body received such a positive response to the auctions after a long time. The auctions over the past one year were receiving bid amount close to the reserve price.

The MOH paid parking lot, however, did not found any takers. The parking lot has not been auctioned, despite several attempts. In fact, the paid parking has not found any takers in several auctions held over the past one year. The presence of a large number of government offices in the area proves to be a deterrent. With government vehicles being parked here everyday, the paid parking lot remains occupied throughout the day.

Councillor Mukesh Bassi, who was one of the auction observers, said, "Two paid parking lots received a good response from the contractors. The MOH parking lot has not found any takers due to the presence of government offices. It is now being proposed that the area of the parking lot be increased and then auctioned."

In the last one year, the MC had cancelled the auction of the paid parking lots twice after the auction price received was less than that received in earlier auctions. Due to this, several paid parking lots had become vacant with no contractors managing them. It was a few months back that the parking lots were successfully auctioned.

Civic body prepares Rs 200-cr budget, Mayor asks councillors for proposals

The Municipal Corporation is in the process to prepare a budget of Rs 200 crore, under the Plan head, for the financial year 2013-14. Of this, a substantial chunk will be for engineering works, apart from allocating funds for various other works of the city. A meeting will be held in the coming days to finalise the budget.

The Mayor had written to the councillors, a few days ago, to give their proposals for the budget. The councillors would be able to give suggestions about projects that they require in their wards, as well as those in the city. Funds will accordingly be allocated for the wards. At times when the budget is presented at the meeting of the general house, councillors complain about inadequate funds being allocated for specific areas.

The budget has to be approved by February. Apart from the civic body's own revenue, it is the UT Administration that provides money under the plan head. Grant-in-aid is provided by the Administration. A guideline was issued for the financial year 2012-13, for the money spent by the Municipal Corporation on different projects and approval sought from the UT Administration. This entails that all the projects that the MC undertakes or approves under the plan head will have to be approved by the Administration.

For the current financial year, approval for around 130 projects was taken from the Administration. Depending on the cost involved, these are approved either at the level of the Home Secretary, who is also the local government secretary, or the advisor. In case the amount of expenditure exceeds Rs 10 crore for a project, then it is approved by the UT administrator.

The civic body has also, over the past few days, received the installment of funds from the Administration. The MC had been withdrawing money from its fixed deposits as the installments were not being received.

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