Of the 23 Indian cities surveyed, the quality of governance has been rated second worst. The City Beautiful has been ranked 22 out of 23 cities with 3.1 scores out of a total of 10. Bengaluru-based non-profit institution, Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy, conducted the annual survey of India’s city-systems (ASICS), 2017.
Pune ranked 1 and Bengaluru placed last at 23.
Evaluation Basis
The quality of governance in 23 Indian cities were evaluated on the basis of three factors:
- Decline in revenue generation,
- Lack of city sanitation plan and
- Lack of autonomy for municipal corporation in budget approval process.
Where Chandigarh lags behind?
REVENUE GENERATION: The report states that the Chandigarh municipal corporation’s revenue generation has been one of the lowest among all the Indian cities and this has impacted the quality of governance in Chandigarh. “If the local bodies don’t earn enough, they will have a problem in running the administration smoothly and Chandigarh MC’s revenue has been dipping for years now. The MC has also failed to create fresh sources of income,” said Anil Nair, head, advocacy, Janaagraha.
The financial crisis of Chandigarh MC is the worst ever. The revenue has dropped from Rs 169.68 crore to Rs 107.06 crore in 2017 and its fixed deposits (FD) coming down from Rs 448.62 crore to Rs 154.77 crore in 2017.
AUTONOMY FOR MC: The report points out lack of autonomy in deciding annual budget allocations for its projects. The MC has been raising this issue for a long time and has accused UT administration of being biased in allocating funds many times, stating this hampers the MC’s developmental and other initiatives, including improving quality of governance.
SANITATION PLAN: The Janaagraha report further states that the Chandigarh MC also doesn’t have a proper sanitation plan unlike other cities. Last year, the MC had spent around Rs 2 crore for buying dustbins for its ambitious source segregation initiative. However despite several awareness campaigns, it has failed to make any difference.
Also, the garbage processing has been in rough terrain. The garbage processing plant in Dadumajra stayed closed for some days due to spat between MC and JP Associates. To add to the woes, even the work on a compost plant for processing bio-degradable waste ordered by the National Green Tribunal inside the garbage processing plant is yet to start.
Poor performance on other parameters too
The report also gives poor marks to Chandigarh in other survey parameters including transparency, accountability, a lack of legislature, weak local body, and lack of citizen participation etc.
Also Read: Minors’ Rapes in Chandigarh on an Alarming Rise
Source: Times of India
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