Alleging fudging of record by the state government to ensure inclusion of Dharamsala in the smart city list instead of the state capital, the Shimla Municipal Corporation today said it would leave no stone unturned to fight for Shimla and would approach the High Court.
Talking to mediapersons here today, Shimla Mayor Sanjay Chauhan said, “We wrote a letter to the Chief Minister in this regard, but nothing has been done.”
He said Dharamsala, which did not have a municipal corporation and had a population of 22,000 and an annual budget of Rs 2.74 crore, had been selected, ignoring the claim of Shimla, which had the only municipal corporation in the state with a population of 2.1 lakh and a budget of Rs 150 crore.
He said Dharamsala was given 87.5 points out of 100 for inclusion in the smart city project due to fudging of record while Shimla secured 85 points.
He alleged that the Mayor and Deputy Mayor were not even consulted by the high-powered steering committee which sent the proposal.
Claiming that the move was politically motivated, Chauhan said he would approach the High Court for seeking justice for Shimla as an individual and Mayor of Shimla.
Giving details of the allegedly fudged record, Deputy Mayor Tikender Singh Panwar said Dharamsala was given five points out of five in online grievance redress and monthly e-news letter while the truth was that there was no such facility in Dharamsala.
He said the budget of the Dharamsala Municipal Council was Rs 2.31 crore in 2012-13, Rs 4.04 crore in 2013-14 and Rs 2.74 crore in 2014-15 while the monthly salaries of employees amounted to Rs 22 lakh per month.
He asked how the Dharamsala civic body could generate between 35 and 50 per cent capital assets, for which it was given 10 points, when 96 per cent of the budget was spent on salaries.
He said there was no double accounting in the Dharamsala Municipal Council under the JNNURM for which 10 points had been given.
He said streetlights were not as per prescribed norms and there was no facility of door-to-door garbage collection, adding that Dharamsala secured 24.5 points and Solan and Mandi were better than Dharamsala.
He said funding of the smart city project had 50 per cent share of Centre, 30 per cent of state and 20 per cent of urban local bodies.
He said the inclusion of Dharamsala in smart city list would put an additional burden on 5,000-odd households who would have to pay an extra Rs 2,500 per month for water.
He said it would not be possible for the Dharamsala civic body to generate resources to meet the 20 per cent share and the liability would be passed on to consumers.
Source:Tribune News Service
Talking to mediapersons here today, Shimla Mayor Sanjay Chauhan said, “We wrote a letter to the Chief Minister in this regard, but nothing has been done.”
He said Dharamsala, which did not have a municipal corporation and had a population of 22,000 and an annual budget of Rs 2.74 crore, had been selected, ignoring the claim of Shimla, which had the only municipal corporation in the state with a population of 2.1 lakh and a budget of Rs 150 crore.
He said Dharamsala was given 87.5 points out of 100 for inclusion in the smart city project due to fudging of record while Shimla secured 85 points.
He alleged that the Mayor and Deputy Mayor were not even consulted by the high-powered steering committee which sent the proposal.
Claiming that the move was politically motivated, Chauhan said he would approach the High Court for seeking justice for Shimla as an individual and Mayor of Shimla.
Giving details of the allegedly fudged record, Deputy Mayor Tikender Singh Panwar said Dharamsala was given five points out of five in online grievance redress and monthly e-news letter while the truth was that there was no such facility in Dharamsala.
He said the budget of the Dharamsala Municipal Council was Rs 2.31 crore in 2012-13, Rs 4.04 crore in 2013-14 and Rs 2.74 crore in 2014-15 while the monthly salaries of employees amounted to Rs 22 lakh per month.
He asked how the Dharamsala civic body could generate between 35 and 50 per cent capital assets, for which it was given 10 points, when 96 per cent of the budget was spent on salaries.
He said streetlights were not as per prescribed norms and there was no facility of door-to-door garbage collection, adding that Dharamsala secured 24.5 points and Solan and Mandi were better than Dharamsala.
He said the inclusion of Dharamsala in smart city list would put an additional burden on 5,000-odd households who would have to pay an extra Rs 2,500 per month for water.
He said it would not be possible for the Dharamsala civic body to generate resources to meet the 20 per cent share and the liability would be passed on to consumers.
Source:Tribune News Service
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