Improvement trusts rendered ‘powerless’

Kuldip Bhatia

Ludhiana, March 29

In what could be termed as a step towards clipping the wings of politically appointed chairmen of the Improvement Trusts across the state prior to their subsequent removal – which is a foregone conclusion, the Punjab Government has withdrawn their financial powers with immediate effect. A memo issued by the Additional Secretary, Local Government, Punjab, says the orders would remain in force till further orders.

The move by the Punjab Government, though on the expected lines, has put brakes to the process put into motion by the Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) as also the other Trusts in the state, to adopt budget for the next financial year and send it for approval to the government before March 31 in the normal course.

Although the fate of all 28 improvement trusts in Punjab was sealed after the Congress government took over and these were working in a symbolic manner on borrowed time, the government has not shown undue haste in dissolving these bodies which are headed by 14 each political appointees from the SAD and the BJP.

There was a flicker of hope that the government might allow the present incumbents to continue for some more time when a proposal for dissolution of the Trusts presented in the first Cabinet meeting of the Congress government was deferred on the request of the new Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, who said he wanted some time to study the whole setup of the Trusts across the state and to see whether these were fulfilling any useful purpose.

However, the decision to withdraw the financial powers of the chairmen of the Trusts has shown the intent of the government that the politicallyappointed chairmen would not be allowed to continue for long and that there days are numbered now.

Uncertainty in LIT office

Meanwhile, complete uncertainty prevails in the Trust office here with the staff as well as the officials waiting for the next move by the government. Although the officials are tight-lipped over withdrawal of financial powers of the chairman, but in private, most of them admit that the decision would affect all ongoing works or those in the pipeline because payments of contractors and suppliers would be held up. 

“Moreover, if the budget for next year is not adopted and approved in time (a process which usually takes a couple of months, the work of the Trust would continue to suffer for quite some time 

to come,” said another LIT official.