Empty retailers on this Kerala bus stand complicated presumably value municipality Rs 9 crore

Express News Service

KASARGOD: On February 22, 2019, 16 days earlier than the Model Code of Conduct for the Lok Sabha election kicked in, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated the brand new bus stand and procuring complicated in Kanhangad.

The inauguration of the bus stand was a feather within the cap of the then municipal chairman and CPM chief VV Rameshan as a result of the complicated was within the making for almost 30 years.

Three years down the road, KSRTC has not even made the brand new bus stand at Alamipally — 2.2 km away from the previous bus stand within the coronary heart of the city — a fare stage. Passengers getting down at Kanhangad bus stand have to purchase tickets for Nileshwar.

But that’s the least of the CPM-controlled Kanhangad municipality’s worries. The bus stand complicated has turn out to be a serious money burner for the municipality with little earnings from it.

The municipality couldn’t discover takers for 106 of the 108 retailers within the bus stand complicated, which was touted to turn out to be the subsequent procuring hub of Kanhangad.

The two retailers had been taken on hire by the CPM-controlled Madikai Service Cooperative Bank to run a medical laboratory. On Wednesday, the municipal council voted 21-17 to return Rs 3.4 lakh to the cooperative financial institution, the cash it took as hire from August 2020 to February 2021, as a result of the municipality couldn’t present water or energy provide to the retailers.

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The UDF councillors voted in opposition to returning the hire as a result of the financial institution ought to have checked if the rooms have energy and water provide, mentioned IUML councillor KK Jaffar. “We had warned the council also not to give the rooms on rent without making them ready to occupy,” he mentioned.

This choice of the council to return the cash to the cooperative financial institution exposes its failure to run the complicated, mentioned former IUML councillor Okay Mohammed Kunhhi.

The failure comes at an enormous monetary value.

Every three months, the municipality offers Rs 18 lakh to Hudco to repay a mortgage of Rs 5 crore, mentioned Jaffar. Of that, Rs 5 lakh is the curiosity and the remainder is the principal quantity, he mentioned. “In the past three years, the municipality had to shell out a little over Rs 2 crore from its ‘own fund’ for loan repayment, and during this time the municipality earned nothing from the complex,” he mentioned.

If the municipality might have discovered takers for the rooms, it might have earned a minimum of Rs 3 crore as hire in a 12 months (Rs 25,000 per room), he mentioned.

Locked up She-Lodge

Three days earlier than the Chief Minister inaugurated the bus stand complicated in Kanhangad, he just about inaugurated Kanhangad municipality’s She-Lodge with a lot fanfare on February 19, 2019. The then chairman Rameshan claimed Kanhangad was the primary municipality in Kerala to construct a She-Lodge, an concept of the federal government to offer safe, clear, and inexpensive lodging with meals to travelling girls.

Kanhangad’s She-Lodge, a two-storey constructing with 5 rooms for lodging, was constructed at a value of Rs 45 lakh adjoining to the bus stand complicated. After three years and three months, She-Lodge too has not began functioning.

The current chairperson KV Sujatha mentioned Kudumbashree is liable for managing the She-Lodge and it’ll begin performing on June 1.

Shopping complicated entangled in bylaws

Chairperson Sujatha mentioned the difficulty of energy and water provide has been resolved. “The complex now has power and water supply. We can provide them to the rooms as and when they are taken on rent,” she mentioned.

But UDF councillors mentioned energy and water had been only one a part of the issue.

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Kanhangad municipality was not discovering any takers for the retailers within the bus stand complicated due to the excessive deposits merchants need to pay as a assure, mentioned UDF councillors.

The Rameshan-led council had scrapped the previous bylaw for the bus stand and launched a brand new one the place the hire assure was mounted at Rs 15 lakh for rooms on the bottom flooring and Rs 10 lakh for rooms on the primary flooring. “We opposed it in the council and challenged it in the high court,” mentioned Jaffar.

Rs 15 lakh was too excessive an quantity for small merchants to afford, he mentioned.

The courtroom rejected the petition filed by the UDF councillors and Kanhangad municipality put the rooms up for public sale not as soon as however thrice. “They could not find any bidders,” mentioned Jaffar.

Later, the council led by Sujatha determined to slash the assure quantity by half to Rs 7 lakh. But any change within the bylaw needs to be accredited by the state authorities. The revised bylaw is pending earlier than the state authorities for the previous seven months. The councillors mentioned the file was earlier than the Law Department.

“Neither is the state government approving it nor is the municipal council pressing the government to clear it. Every day’s delay is causing a huge revenue loss for the municipality,” Jaffar mentioned whereas pegging the loss over the previous three years at Rs 9 crore.