Nagpur: Citizens will have to bear with bad roads for more days as the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has no funds for asphaltation.
Standing committee chairman Virendra Kukreja on Monday claimed that corporators always raise the issue of poor roads and many have already submitted proposals for asphalting roads. According to Kukreja, proposals worth over Rs35 crore for asphaltation of roads are pending with the civic administration for want of funds.
To a query about poor quality of patchwork being carried out by the hotmix department, the standing panel chairman blamed the residents for poor civic sense. He pointed out that many residents wash their vehicles on roads thus damaging tar roads.
He, however, was quick to add, in coming days the financial situation will improve with more funds coming from the state government and also generation of revenue by way of property tax, town planning department etc.
In the coming days, potholes across the city will be repaired as the standing panel on Monday gave its nod to hotmix department’s proposal of Rs3.41 crore for procuring bitumen, tar and funds for labourers, he said.
With the panel’s nod, the department would be procuring bitumen worth Rs2.31 crore for carrying out pothole repair works. Similarly, the department will be purchasing tar worth Rs40.16 lakh. Apart from this, the standing committee also gave green signal to spend Rs43.36 lakh for hiring labourers to carry out the repairs.
Kukreja also reviewed the collections of property tax and market departments. He expressed concern over poor recoveries from both the departments and directed the officials to improve collections.
Meanwhile, the standing panel gave extension to the state government’s special scheme to regularize unauthorized constructions and plots for further six months as the civic body has received very low response.
NMC has received only 259 applications in six months. The last date for submission of applications is October 4 and hence NMC decided to extend the deadline by six more months. Now, the proposal will be tabled before the general body meeting for its nod, said Kukreja.
To a query over poor response to the NMC whereas NIT was getting good response from the property owners, Kukreja said the civic body has already approached the state government for reducing the compounding charges. He said the government has already entrusted the NMC to decide the rates by inviting suggestions and objections.
“The state government is all set to give its nod to the NMC’s proposal of revising development control rules for religious structures on open plots and public utility lands,” he added.
