BJP converted “City Beautiful” Chandigarh into “Garbage Mountain City”: Bansal & Surjewala
Babushahi Bureau
Chandigarh, December 18, 2021: Pawan Bansal, Treasurer & Randeep Singh Surjewala, General Secretary, AICC accused BJP of converting
“City Beautiful” Chandigarh into “Garbage Mountain City”.
In the joint statement, Bansal and Surjewala said that the Modi government and BJP ruled MC Corporation betrayed Chandigarh and imposed insurmountable taxes.
"Conspiratorial discrimination, cruel slashing of Development Budget, criminal indifference & insurmountable taxes are the only legacies of Modi Government & BJP-ruled Chandigarh Municipal Corporation. We shall discuss some of these today. India’s “City Beautiful” carved out of the vision & dreams of Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru has been converted into “Garbage Mountain City” by Modi & BJP Government," read the joint statement issued by the Congress leader.
Read the complete joint statement issued by Congress leaders:
Conspiratorial discrimination, cruel slashing of Development Budget, criminal indifference & insurmountable taxes are the only legacies of the Modi Government & BJP-ruled Chandigarh Municipal Corporation. We shall discuss some of these today.
India’s “City Beautiful” carved out of the vision & dreams of Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru has been converted into “Garbage Mountain City” by Modi & BJP Government.
An insurmountable mountain of over 15 lakh tons of garbage in Dadu Majra chides the world-known description of “City Beautiful”. The intolerable and poisonous smoke emanating from this mountain is playing havoc with the health of the residents of Chandigarh.
The real story of BJP-made “Garbage Mountain” City
1.Chandigarh produces 500 tons of solid waste every day, which is nearly 2 lakh tons of solid wastes every year. While BJP has erected 10 lakh tons of garbage mountain in the last five years, not a penny has been spent for garbage processing. This is a telltale of criminal negligence. The only bigger garbage mountain of the height of the Taj Mahal (73 Metres) is in Kejriwal Government in Delhi.
2.The Solid Waste Processing Plant has been lying shut down under the aegis of Modi Government & BJP-ruled Corporation. The processing of solid waste in Chandigarh now has been left in God’s hands.
3.BJP-ruled Corporation has neither conducted an inquiry into the affairs of private company responsible for running the Solid Waste Processing Plant nor has imposed a single rupee as penalty on this company. Collusion & corruption is, thus, writ large.
4.BJP-ruled Corporation, on the contrary, has conceived a unique money spinner scheme by giving a contract to a private company worth Rs.24 crore for lifting and transporting the garbage out of Chandigarh. But the clever ploy is that in the last two years, garbage mountain has been set on fire three times. On one hand, Chandigarh’s clean air has been criminally polluted by setting on fire the garbage mountain and on the other hand, how many tons of garbage has been burnt instead of being transported out is unknown. Money has flown out of exchequer’s account with zero inquiry into the burning of garbage.
5.Uptill 2017, “House to House garbage collection” was being undertaken in Chandigarh. BJP-Municipal Corporation handed over the same to a private company. Result was that garbage collection expense short up by 300% to nearly 55 Crores. The cost of collection for the garbage employee which was Rs.17,000 in the year 2017 has gone upto Rs.45,000. This is how exchequer’s money is being siphoned off.
Betrayal of Chandigarh – Imposition of Insurmountable Taxes
1.Cruel Increase in Water & Sewage Rates
Uptill 2015, the water charges in Chandigarh were Rs.2 per kilo litre. BJP-Municipal Corporation and Administration have increased the water charges by over 50% to Rs.3 and Rs.6 per kilo litre. Not only this, the sewage charge per toilet sheet was only Rs.10. BJP has increased the same to 30% of the water charges. In view of impending corporation elections, these cruel charges have been temporarily withheld. To vote for BJP is to vote for the cruel and higher water & sewage charges in Chandigarh amounting to over 50% increase.
2.The Overwhelming Increase in House Tax
In the year 2020, “Tax Assessment Committee” recommended increase of 20% house tax. This has affected 1,50,000 tax payers of Chandigarh – 1,20,000 in the residential category and 30,000 in commercial & industrial category. Rs.50 crore was already being collected and an additional burden of Rs.15 crore has been imposed.
3.Additional Blow of Sharp Rise on the charges for Property Purchase, Ownership Transfer, Lease Rights & Property Mortgage
The charges for Ownership/Lease Right Transfer as also NOCs for Residential Property have been increased by 300% i.e. from Rs.2,000 to Rs.6,000. The NOC’s fees on purchase & sale of property has been increased from Rs.1,500 to Rs.5,000. The fee for mortgage of property has been increased from Rs.1,000 to Rs.5,000. The processing fee for purchase and sale of Shop-cum-Flats and Shop-cum-Offices, which was Rs.2,500/Rs.5,000, has been increased to Rs.10,000. This is brazen loot from people.
The Double Whammy on Chandigarh – Spurt in Taxes & Slashing of Budget
1. In the year 2021-22, Modi Government slashed the demanding budget for the development of Chandigarh by Rs.483.88 crore (Demand – Rs.5,670 crore, Sanctioned - Rs.5,186 crore).
2.During the challenging Corona times in the year 2020, Modi Government directed slashing of Chandigarh Budget by 20%. The net result was a reduction of Rs.260 crore in every quarter. During a pandemic, there was no money to even pay the salary of employees and the entire development of the City came to a halt.
3.As per recommendations of the Delhi Finance Commission, Chandigarh should get 30% share of the revenue. The revenue of Chandigarh is Rs.4,000 crore. Chandigarh should be getting Rs.1,200 crore i.e. 30% share, but Modi Government has even slashed the same by over 50% to Rs.564 crore. This is blatant discrimination.