Civic bodies to retain funds from change of land use

Monday, 26/11/2012

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20121126/punjab.htm#3

Chandigard : Hundreds of cases of change of land use (CLU) are likely to be addressed now with the BJP prevailing upon its alliance partner, the SAD, to reverse the government decision to deposit funds collected from CLU approvals to the state exchequer. Now, the money will be retained by the respective municipal bodies.

CLU cases had been piling up in the office of Local Bodies Minister Bhagat Chunni Lal for several months. The Congress had also objected to the "indecisiveness" of the government.

Sources in the BJP said senior BJP leaders, including former minister Balramji Dass Tandon, took up the issue with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal at a recent coordination meeting between the alliance partners.

They said the BJP insisted that the municipal corporations were in dire financial straits and they needed the money earned from clearing CLU cases to initiate development works. It was also pointed out that earlier too the money received from CLU cases was retained by the municipal bodies.

The BJP has also persuaded its alliance partner that funds from CLU cases of housing colonies established by the Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA) within the municipal limits should be retained by the municipal bodies. Tandon said both the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister had agreed to these suggestions.

The BJP had also pointed out in the coordination meeting that the Ludhiana Mayor, Local Bodies Minister Bhagat Chunni Lal and Chief Parliamentary Secretary, Local Bodies, had not been invited to a meeting held by Sukhbir Badal to finalise a Rs 3,561-crore integrated development plan for Ludhiana. All the three are BJP functionaries. The BJP leaders said this gave an impression that the party was not part of the exercise which would send a wrong message to the public. Concerns on more representation to the BJP in the Advocate-General's office was also expressed and well taken by the SAD.

Both the parties also decided to hold monthly meetings of the coordination committee. BJP state president Ashwani Kumar Sharma has been asked to convene the meetings. It was also decided that coordination meetings would be held at the district level. Chief Minister's adviser Kamal Sharma and party secretary Dr Daljit Singh Cheema have been nominated to give names for the same for all districts on behalf of the BJP and the SAD, respectively.