Booking fee of community centres to be refunded
CHANDIGARH: The municipal corporation (MC) will be refunding about ₹65.98 lakh to people who booked various community centres in the city between March 22 and May 31, members decided at the first General House meeting held here via video conferencing after two months of curfew and lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Other decisions at the meeting included restarting road works after the monsoon; starting development work in UT villages, purchase of PPE kits, reauction of food booths in Sector 48 and setting up of an animal incinerator plant in Sector 25 West.
People who booked community centres, open spaces and parks for events could not organise the events there because of the lockdown and curfew due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
There were 493 bookings made and 150 persons have already sent applications demanding refunds from the MC, which manages the centres.
The money to be refunded includes ₹55.51 lakh for renting the venue, ₹10.07 lakh as goods and services tax (GST) and ₹40,000 as cleaning charges.
Even though the MC had deposited the GST amount with the excise and taxation department, the House decided that the amount will be refunded.
As there appeared to be no definite timelines for the pandemic situation to ease the MC decided to formulate provisions in the refund policy for existing or similar future calamities.
EXPERT COMMITTEE ON PPE KITS
The House decided to add three more members to the purchase committee set up to buy personal protective equipment (PPE) kits, hand sanitisers and gloves for the containment of Covid-19. An expert from the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research and two nominated members will be added to the committee to decide on the requirement and specifications of the safety equipment.
Arun Sood, councillor and city BJP chief, said his party will provide 100ml hand sanitisers, PPE kits and masks to the MC. The House decision came on the submission of an estimate of around ₹2 crore for buying PPE kits.
MAJOR ROAD WORKS TO START AFTER MONSOON
Major road repair and recarpeting work will also be carried out after the monsoon, between September to December, said KK Yadav, MC commissioner.
Recarpeting work for which tenders had already been allocated would be sped up and completed before the monsoon, he said, assuring the house that the civic body had adequate funds for the completion of all the road works. Recarpeting work on several roads couldn’t be completed last year because of lack of funds.
APPROVALS FOR VILLAGE DEVELOPMENT
Among the various developmental works in UT villages approved by the House, an estimated spending of ₹10 crore for paver block and sewerage system in Manimajra got the green signal at the meeting.
For the infrastructural improvements in the 13 villages recently added to the MC, civic works, including electricity, paver blocks, sewerage upgrade, water supply, and storm water were approved. The estimates for these works will be submitted with the administration for additional grant-in-aid.
SEC 48 FOOD BOOTHS TO BE REAUCTIONED
The proposal for reducing the reserve price of booths at Food Street, Sector 48, was also submitted before the House. As Sood suggested augmenting the amenities there for improving the response from bidders, the House decided to float tenders in August after providing basic amenities such as public toilets. In case of a poor response, reducing the reserve price would be discussed again.
ANIMAL CARCASS INCINERATOR PLANT
The city’s first animal carcass incineration plant is likely to come up in Sector 25 West even though an earlier proposal was made to set up the unit in Industrial Area, Phase 1. Plans were changed after opposition from local councillor Shakti Parkash Devshali.