Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 26: In the absence of rules for allotments, bungalows constructed especially for use by the officers on deputation to Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) are under the occupation of some influential persons during the past quite long time. Moreover, the rent of Corporation’s assets has not been revised for the past several years thereby creating hurdles in raising enough money even for their proper maintenance.
This has come to the fore in reply to the application filed under Jammu and Kashmir Right to Information Act, the copy of which is available with EXCELSIOR.
“It is the duty of the Jammu Municipal Corporation to provide accommodation to the officers on deputation from other departments and for this purpose Municipal Corporation had constructed four bungalows in Krishna Nagar area. However, these bungalows have been allotted to private persons for unknown reasons”, reads the reply furnished by senior officer of the Municipal Corporation to the applicant Irtiza Mushtaq.
“Due to this, the Corporation is being compelled to make allotment of those accommodations, which otherwise are meant for other purposes, to the officers that too after making huge expenditure on renovation”, official sources told EXCELSIOR while pointing towards the allotment made to former Joint Commissioner (Admn) of the Corporation at Cattle Pond in Gandhi Nagar.
“As the persons who have been allotted these bungalows are influential ones, the Corporation is finding it difficult to put to use these bungalows for the purpose for which these were constructed several years back”, sources further said while holding lack of allotment rules responsible for the prevailing situation.
A senior officer of the Corporation, on the condition of anonymity, said, “there are no rules for allotment of even flats and shops of the Corporation in different parts of Jammu city”, adding “till date no serious attention has been paid towards this vital aspect”.
Moreover, the Corporation has failed to revise the rent of its assets during the past many years as a result of which these assets are not even generating money for their proper maintenance. “It is because of lack of resources that municipal flats and other assets are in deplorable condition”, sources said.
When contacted, Assistant Commissioner (R) Vinakshi Koul said, “a committee has recently been constituted to frame allotment rules of the Corporation and the rules of Estates Departments are also being examined”. She, however, failed to specify time-frame for completion of this exercise.
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