16 December,2010 06:35 AM IST | | Rinkita Gurav
Says Standing Committee chairman Rahul Shewale, as the state govt has still not sanctioned its loan meant for infrastructure projects in the city
After MiD DAY's report about the BMC's claim that it is being held backu00a0 by the state government which is withholding its sanction to BMC's interim loan meant to complete infrastructure projects in the city the State Urban Development Ministry said that a decision regarding the matter is still pending.
The civic body had claimed that the reason it has not been able to spend the money allotted in its annual budget for project works is the government's reserve in signing a no-objection certificate to clear the loan, which the corporation takes against its deposits in the bank every year.
BMC's various projects may get hampered, officials claim, as the state government hasn't yet given the loan a green signal.
Rahul Shewale, chairperson of the Standing Committee, had earlier told MiD DAY that it is a political trick that the Congress-run state government is pulling to make the saffron coalition-run BMC look incompetent.
He said, "If they delay the loan, the payment will get stalled and the infrastructure work may get affected. This would mislead people into thinking that the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance could not complete the promised work."
Already, most of the project works, like building and maintenance of roads and pipelines, have been delayed and their cost estimates go on increasing every year.
u00a0
For instance, the amount allocated for the BRIMSTOWAD (or Brihanmumbai Storm Water Drain) project, which will help to increase the water retention capacity of existing storm water drains, has been raised from Rs 1,200 crore to Rs 3,500 crore over a period of three years.
A BMC official from the Accounts Department said, "The loan doesn't affect the projects directly but if the payments stop because of insufficient funds, the work is likely to come to a halt, necessitating an increase in the budget the next year."
Shewale further informed, "The loan might get sanctioned at the last moment, may be just before the next budget. But then it needs to be sanctioned in time so the payments are not hampered."
The Other Side
The state government, has said that the sanction for the amount is under consideration. A senior official from the Urban Development Ministry, said, "The sanction of the interim loan is under consideration in the ministry." He added that the amount to be sanctioned from the loan of Rs 3,000 crore that the BMC has asked for is yet to be decided. "It will be fixed after some meetings," he said.
