Mayor raises questions on GMC decisions

Ghaziabad: Mayor Sunita Dayal held a news conference on Sunday and drilled holes in several decisions taken by Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation (GMC), days after commissioner Vikramaditya Singh Malik alleged that her husband was interfering with the daily affairs of the civic body and taking decisions on its behalf.

Dayal questioned the corporation’s decision to fix the rate for an agency to operate 350 CNG vehicles to pick up garbage from doorstep without informing her. She also raised concerns about a proposal to increase house tax, calling it illegal.

“The corporation purchased 350 CNG vehicles for door-to-door garbage collection. A company, M/s JS Environ Services Pvt Ltd, was given the contract for operating and maintaining these vehicles at the rate of Rs 61,499 a vehicle a month for eight years, extendable up to 10 years. The company had no capital investment on its own,” she said.

Dayal questioned the need for another agency to maintain the CNG vehicles from Nov 2023 to March this year when the previous company charged Rs 41,422 for maintaining the old vans that pick up waste.

The mayor said when she came to know about the decision to hire the agency, she asked for the file. When there was a delay, a computer operator at her camp office reminded her to send a request again. This operator, she alleged, was transferred out of the camp office.

The mayor also claimed that she was not kept in the loop when the proposal to increase house tax was discussed with councillors, who are members of her party.

“Plus, house tax cannot be increased in the middle of a session in keeping with the Uttar Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act, 1959. But the municipal commissioner has been mobilising support from councillors for increasing the tax without my consent,” she alleged.

A large section of councillors has objected to the idea of a hike in house tax. The GMC Board hasn’t yet given its approval to make house tax on a par with the DM circle rate.

“I will not tolerate such irregularities and revenue loss in the municipal corporation. Getting my husband into this will stop me from doing my job,” Dayal said.

Malik has been on leave since his allegations became public through a leaked letter addressed to heads of departments in his office. The letter alleged that the mayor’s husband asked for sensitive files to be sent home and took decisions on several projects.

A press note was, however, circulated by the corporation after the mayor’s news conference on Saturday.

The note said that the request for proposal for the purchase of 350 door-to-door CNG vehicles was invited through national newspapers, following which a company was selected at the cost of Rs 61,550 a month. The amount, it said, was higher because the company itself will replace the vehicles if they were damaged, unlike the rules of the previous tender.

“If any vehicles become defective due to leachate, the firm will replace them with new vehicles at its own expense, due to which the corporation will always have 300 vehicles available for 8+2 years. In that case, the corporation will not need to purchase new vehicles,” said the release.

Asked about the plan to increase house tax, a GMC official said, “Despite being in NCR, we have a tax ranging from 0.87 paisa to Rs 1.32 per sqft. An increase in tax will bring Rs 100 crore additional revenue.”


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