Published On : Fri, Mar 1st, 2019

Babus should take care of NMC’s financial health: Kukreja

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Virendra Kukreja

Nagpur: “Employees of Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) should improve their working style for keeping the financial health of the civic body vibrant,” Virendra Kukreja, Standing Committee Chairman, said while talking to mediapersons on Thursday.

Making this point after last meeting as Chairman of the Standing Committee, Kukreja said, it is necessary to motivate and provide them proper training to execute the work in proper manner. It is the responsibility of higher authorities, Heads of the departments to improve their efficiency. Kukreja also expressed gratitude towards Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for providing financial assistance to local body throughout the year. He said, the State Government has increased financial assistance in lieu of Goods and Services Tax (GST) from Rs 52 crore per month to Rs 86 crore per month. Apart from this, the Government has also released Rs 150 crore as special grant to Nagpur.

Kukreja further said that the Standing Committee has demanded Rs 325 crore from the State Government as special grants. The Government will release remaining amount of Rs175 crore in next 15days. Highlighting his achievement as Chairman of the Standing Committee, Kukreja said he convened 32 meetings in the year and cleared 866 proposals. He suggested improvement in working style of Water Works Department.

The election of new Standing Committee Chairman is likely to be held on March 5. Pradeep Pohane of BJP has been announced as candidate for the Chairman’s post.

NMC to allot incomplete works to other contractors:
As Unity Infraprojects Limited is not in a position to complete the construction of cement roads, NMC has decided to allot the remaining construction work to other contractors. Standing Committee has taken a decision in this regard. The company has appealed National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for obtaining liquidation orders. The company bagged the contract of cement road construction of 30 kms. The company was to complete 30 roads but in last several years, the company has completed only 12 roads of 8.6 kms. The construction of 8 roads is in progress.

The company has failed to start the construction of 8 cement roads while construction of two roads deferred due to various reasons. Till now, the company has completed the construction of Rs 59 crore while work of Rs 4.25 crore is underway. Now, NMC has decided to allot the remaining work to some other contractor. The total cost of remaining work is Rs 47.52 crore. The civic body will levy penalty on the company for escalation of cost of this work. The contractor will complete work at Risk and Cost, Kukreja said.