As per the Bare Act of DDA, ”Escrow Account" means a dedicated savings account held by the Local Body concerned not being operative unless the conditions for which it has been opened are fulfilled in accordance with the provisions of these regulations”.
In such a case how Civic bodies either diverted the Amount collected under this Account for other establishment expenditure including salaries or failed to use most of the amount, is a very serious cause of concern for one & the all.
Various newspapers have reported:
Escrow account
However, the data submitted shows that the Municipal Corporation of Delhi collected Rs. 1,128.72 crore from 2006-2007 till 2011-2012, but only about 8% or Rs. 101.39 crore was spent through the escrow account on developing the areas or creating parking. The majority of the fund or Rs. 1,027.33 crore was spent on “other establishment expenditure”, which includes salaries.
MCD split
After the MCD was split into three in 2012, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation collected Rs. 643.41 crore from 2012-2013 to 2016-2017. Only Rs. 28.19 crore was spent on escrow expenditure, while the remaining Rs. 615.22 crore was spent on other establishment expenses.
While the North Corporation diverted the majority of the funds, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) failed to use most of the parking and conversion charges it collected. From 2012-2013 till 2016-2017, the SDMC collected a total of Rs. 1,125.05 crore, but the expenditure from the escrow was Rs. 146.87 crore. Currently, Rs. 925 crore is available in the account, SDMC data shows.
The East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) collected Rs. 166.02 crore in conversion charges and Rs. 49.95 crore in parking charges from 2012-2013 till 2017-2018 (till now). The EDMC data showed that the civic body spent Rs. 8.38 crore of the parking charges on developing parking, while Rs. 18.16 crore was spent on salaries and Rs. 23.40 crore remained unused. We are trying to find out the status of the rest of the Rs 166.03 crore.
with thanks: The Hindu: Damini Nath
with thanks: The Hindu: Damini Nath
In such circumstances, do you think that our Civic bodies have any right to collect the Conversion as well as the one-time parking charges?
It was said earlier that no development charges for parking shall be payable by small shop owners of the area up to 20 sqm. dealing with the items/activities as defined in para 15.6.3 of the MPD-2021 in respect of any category of colonies.
But now, development charges for parking are being demanded even from the small shop owners. Is there any such change in the Act?
It was also said earlier that Development charges for parking shall also not be payable by owner/ allottee/resident/user of the plot/dwelling units falling under notified pedestrian shopping streets both mixed-use or commercial pedestrian streets.
Please check the Links depicting Pedestrian Streets of Delhi that were Notified in the Delhi Gazette on 15th September 2006. You can easily find out if you are on a Pedestrian street & if you are being charged for all such development charges?
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