Vijayawada Municipal Corporation set to borrow 100 cr

Vijayawada: The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC), which is not taking up new projects in the city due to financial crunch, is now would borrow Rs 100 crore to complete the JNNURM housing pending works at Ajit Singh Nagar.

• Tax payers, Opposition flay the decision saying it will be a big burden on the civic body
• Construction of houses is not the responsibility of local bodies
• Central and State governments should take the responsibility of constructing the houses

The state government had asked the corporation to take the loan of Rs 100 crore from the banks and it would give guarantee for it. Construction of houses is the responsibility of the State and Central governments. Primary responsibilities of the local bodies is to maintain sanitation, construction of roads, bridges, providing street lighting and supply of drinking water to the denizens.

Vijayawada Municipal Corporation during the previous Congress tenure had constructed more than 15,000 houses in different parts of the city under the JNNURM. Both the Central and State governments had sanctioned funds for the housing project.

However, nearly 5,000 houses under the JNNURM are yet to be completed at Ajit Singh Nagar. Mayor Koneru Sridhar several times asked the ministers and the higher officials to sanction funds to complete the pending works of JNNURM houses. But there is no response yet from the state government.

Instead of giving financial assistance to the civic body, the state government had asked the corporation to borrow Rs 100 crore to complete the pending works. A senior officer in the corporation said the civic body would take loan as per the instructions of the state government.

Meanwhile, the Opposition and Tax Payers Association came down heavily on the state government for asking the VMC to borrow loan of Rs 100 crore. Tax Payers Association secretary MV Anjaneyulu lashed out at the state government for asking the civic body to take loan of Rs 100 crore. He demanded that the state government release funds for the housing projects.

He said the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation is not responsible for the construction of houses and it is the responsibility of the State or Central governments. He said the VMC earlier had spent more than Rs 100 crore as its share for the construction of houses for the poor under the JNNURM scheme and faced many financial problems due to funds crunch.

He said the VMC would again face similar problem if it borrows loan of Rs 100 crore. He said the State and Central governments claimed the responsibility for the construction of houses and citizens of Vijayawada would face the burden.

CPM former city secretary Chigurupati Babu Rao condemned the decision of the state government asking the civic body to borrow loan. Why should the VMC borrow loans from the banks for housing works, he questioned.

He said the state government is escaping from the responsibility of constructing the houses and reminded not even a single house was constructed in Vijayawada in three-and-a- half-years TDP rule.

By MD Ameen