CHANDIGARH, Sept 7:— Former Union Minister and ex-MP Pawan Kumar Bansal on Sunday sharply criticized the decision to transfer V3 roads from the Municipal Corporation (MC) to the Union Territory Administration, calling it a “retrograde move” that erodes the authority of local self-government.
“This is forcing the corporation to surrender its legitimate constitutional functions,” Bansal said, reacting to the Administrator’s approval of the transfer.
He argued that rather than providing the MC its rightful share of funds, as recommended by the Delhi Finance Commission, the Union Government was starving the civic body of resources. The result, he said, was a weakening of the third tier of governance.
“The need is to transfer all functions listed in the Twelfth Schedule of the Constitution to municipal corporations. Weakening the Chandigarh MC will strip it of vitality and capacity to serve as a vibrant third tier of government,” he remarked.
Bansal noted that the spirit of the 74th Constitutional Amendment — meant to empower municipal bodies — was being ignored. He also defended the MC, pointing out that it had exhausted all avenues of taxation and could not burden residents with more levies.
“Chandigarh residents contribute much more to the Consolidated Fund of India through Central and State taxes than what the city receives in return. Yet, the MC gets only a pittance from the annual budget,” he said.
Warning of the consequences, Bansal underlined the urgent need to address the imbalance in resources. “Civic infrastructure and services are in a dismal state. The condition of villages merged with the MC is pitiable, though a plan to develop them into modern villages has long been lost in bureaucratic files,” he added.
