Gurgaon
News: The Haryana government
is contemplating extending the municipal limit of
Gurgaon for uniform infrastructure development and
meeting the civic needs of residents outside the
municipal limits.
It was only due to the small municipal coverage area —
only 2.5 per cent of the total area of the Millennium
City is under the civic body — that no fund was
allocated to Gurgaon under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban
Renewal Mission (JNURM). Instead, Faridabad got Rs
2,300 crore fund.
Not only that, the district administration estimates a
loss of Rs 300 crore house tax because properties
falling outside the municipal area are out of tax net.
The present house tax collection by the municipal
council is only Rs 5 crore. "Extending the municipal
area has been long overdue. The delay is causing huge
loss to the city as a whole and hampering the
development. We have no right to collect property tax
and thereby the city is incurring huge revenue loss.
Even properties in licensed areas don't pay any tax
since they have not been handed over to the council,"
said HUDA administrator S P Gupta.
Besides revenue loss, the infrastructure is also
highly inadequate as water supply to the city is meant
for only 6 lakh people — the population under the
municipal limit — while the total population is
approximately 17 lakh.
Keeping in mind the huge losses and non-uniform growth
of infrastructure, the state government,
administration and top consultants, including McKinsey
India Ltd, are feeling the need for extending the
municipal limits.
"The government is serious about strengthening and
extending the limits of the municipal councils in the
state. The process has started and fund allocation for
the existing bodies has been increased. In next couple
of years, these bodies will see a sea change," said
chief secretary Prem Prashant.
But district administration officials feel that the
change might not be as easy as it seems to be. Though
the government guidelines make it mandatory for
Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) and private
developers to transfer a sector to municipal council
five and 15 years, respectively, after its
development, the Authority and builders have never
complied, officials say.
"The delay in handing over the HUDA sectors and
colonised areas to the municipal council will make the
the Authority and department of town and country
planning (DTCP) financially sick. They are spending
public money without generating any revenue," said a
senior official. And they are not handing over their
areas to municipality fearing that this might cause a
fall in the property price, officials added.
Even the minister of state for urban development
Savitri Jindal told Times City: "Though the government
is committed to increasing the municipal limits, the
authorities developing the residential and industrial
sectors have not yet handed them over to the
municipality."
However, citizens don't buy the government's argument
that failure to generate revenue through house tax has
affected the city's development. "It's fine that
municipal limits should be extended and we know that's
going to happen at some point of time. But keeping in
mind the dismal performance of municipalities in our
neighbouring cities, we don't welcome such a
proposal," said DLF City RWA secretary general Sudhir
Kapoor.
He added that if the government was serious about
augmenting infrastructure, it could have used Rs 1,200
crore that has been lying with it for years. "This is
the amount they accumulated for external development.
We are also strictly against any free lunch, but the
fact remains that the government must deliver to win
the faith of stake holders," Kapoor added.
