Chandigarh, April 13: Development works in Chandigarh have come to a halt as the Municipal Corporation (MC) has spent the entire Rs 156 crore it received as the first instalment of the 2025–26 grant-in-aid, leaving little to cover salaries for upcoming months.
Of the total, Rs 56 crore was earmarked for replenishing the pension fund—an amount previously diverted to pay salaries. After clearing wages for April, officials say the MC will struggle to disburse salaries for May and June unless more funds arrive.
Earlier, the financially stressed civic body had withdrawn Rs 50 crore from the pension fund to clear February salaries and another Rs 6 crore to settle electricity bills at the Kajauli waterworks, avoiding a penalty of Rs 11 lakh.
While the civic body hopes to raise over Rs 30 crore through property tax collections by May 31—offering up to 20% rebate to boost compliance—officials admit it won’t be enough to cover rising operational expenses.
MC officials had been banking on additional grants from the UT Administration. Punjab Governor and UT Administrator Gulab Chand Kataria had earlier promised that surplus funds from the UT’s budget would be shared after Centre’s nod, but no such allocation has materialised so far.
Mayor Harpreet Kaur Babla said she would again approach Union Home Minister Amit Shah to secure financial support for stalled development work.
To generate internal revenue, the Mayor said the MC plans to sell 6.9 acres of prime land in Pocket 6 of Mani Majra, Sector 13, earmarked under the Chandigarh Master Plan for residential use. The sale is expected to fetch over Rs 500 crore. Ground surveys and land verification at the site have already been completed.
