JAIPUR: The Jaipur Municipal Corporation (JMC) has threatened to stop maintenance work in the Rajasthan Housing Board (RHB) colonies, if the record of assets and properties is not transferred. City mayor, Ashok Lahoti has written a letter to the commissioner of RHB for the same. According to sources, the mayor has mentioned that JMC has spent over Rs 1000 crore to maintain light, sewerage, sanitation, roads and gardens in RHB colonies. However, the RHB has not transferred records of list of vacant properties. “If RHB does not transfer the vacant properties to JMC, which is a source of revenue generation, there could be a problem in maintaining these colonies,” said an official source.
The JMC has also highlighted that in the absence of these colonies’ records, the civic body faces problems in approving the layout plan and checking illegal construction in these colonies. Several colonies in the city including Jawahar Nagar, Shastri Nagar, Mansarovar and Pratap Nagar, were developed by RHB and transferred to JMC for maintenance.
Many colonies developed by the JDA, Rajasthan Housing Board and Urban Improvement Trust in the city were transferred to JMC for maintenance. However, the civic bodies have not been able to find a common ground on expenditure issues, so far. According to senior official sources, “Both these departments have locked horns over expenditure issues. JMC is demanding its share in revenue which is earned after auctioning of land in these colonies. But, RHB is adamant on not sharing any revenue.”
To resolve the issue, a joint meeting of RHB, JDA, JMC and DLB was proposed, to frame the rules and regulations. Following this, the drafting of rules and regulations was proposed to be forwarded to the chief secretary. But, nothing has been done in this regard. “The meeting in this regard has not been called till date. Also, no meeting has been scheduled in near future. Even after rules and regulations are framed, it would take long to implement them,” said a senior official source at DLB.
The JMC had also recently sought Rs 536 crores from the state government to upkeep residential colonies that were transferred for maintenance. “It was mentioned that minimum Rs 1crore is required for each colony, to develop sewerage and drainage, street lights installation, to maintain gardens and sanitation in the transferred colonies. But the funds are not transferred till date,” a JMC official said.