The state of rural and urban villages, unauthorised colonies and sanitation services are some of the things that will be spruced up in the fiscal 2013-14 with the South Delhi Municipal Corporation Standing Committee approving the budget estimate submitted in early December by the Municipal Commissioner and making additional changes of its own.
Standing Committee Chairman Rajesh Gehlot on Wednesday announced that Rs.50 crore has been sanctioned for improvement of roads, drainage, parks, streetlights and health facilities in rural villages and an equal amount has been sanctioned for development work in unauthorised colonies once regularised.
Urban villages and unauthorised colonies will each receive Rs.25 crore for development works and Rs.10 crore will be set aside for sanitation services. “Sanitation facilities are unbalanced across the 104 wards of the SDMC and the amount set aside will help bridge this gap,” said Mr. Gehlot. While a stadium will come up within the Kakrola Municipal School, an entertainment centre will come up at the Gumanhera village at a cost of Rs.5 crore.
Earlier, Commissioner Manish Gupta had categorised parking facilities into Category A (premium surface parking in main markets such as South Extension, Lajpat Nagar and Defence Colony), Category B (surface parking other than those in category A), and Category C (multi-level parking, automatic parking, underground parking). Mr. Gupta’s proposal was approved with some modifications. For instance, for parking cars in categories A and B category it will cost a user Rs.20 up to 3 hours and Rs.10 for each additional hour and for parking two wheelers, Rs.10 for the first 3 hours and Rs.5 for each additional hour. “We will speak to the other two Corporations and will try to come up with a single parking policy across the city,” he said.
The revised budget estimate announced by Mr. Gehlot also saw an enhancement to councillor’s fund. For instance, each councillor will receive Rs.1 crore per wars for development works, Rs.5 lakh per ward for development of schools, Rs.5 lakh for improvement of streets and parks and Rs.10 lakh per ward for construction of toilets. In addition, they will receive Rs.5,000 per month for services of computer operator at their residences and Rs.25,000 as monthly allowance. It is also proposed to offer ATM facilities at all zonal offices and the SDMC headquarters for residents to withdraw money easily. Canteen facilities will also be provided, said the Standing Committee Chairman.
