The building, spread over an area of 2,607 square yards was built in 1910 and is located in the Dharampura Bazar area, in the heart of the town. Official sources told CN here today that the reserve price for the auction of the building scheduled to commence at 11 a.m, has been fixed at Rs 8 crore and each bidder will have to deposit earnest money of Rs 40 lakh to be eligible to participate in the auction.

The successful bidder will have to pay ten per cent of the total amount of the bid, which would not be less than Rs 80 lakh if it is presumed that the building is sold for the reserve price, on the spot. Another 15 per cent of the bid would have to be deposited within one month of the auction.

These sources said that the building was initially used as a town hall where meetings of prominent citizens were held. Later, it came to be used for housing the offices of the municipal committee.

Harkesh Singh Sidhu, commissioner of the Patiala MC, talking to CN said the decision to hold the auction had been taken in view of the acute financial crisis the MC was facing. Another deciding factor in favour of the auction was that the building was located in a crowded market place. It had limited accommodation and with the increase in the strength of the municipal staff, it had become insufficient to meet the requirements. The problem became more acute after the upgradation of the municipal committee to municipal corporation.

At present the corporation has a staff strength of about 350 employees of which about 100 are field employees. This means that about 250 employees have to be accommodated in the office but the space is too little for this purpose and it comes as no surprise that overcrowding hampers efficiency.

The corporation has already purchased office accommodation in the Chhoti Baradari complex at a cost of Rs 1 crore and there are plans to shift the office soon. Ultimately, the corporation plans to build a new office complex in the Fire Brigade offices of the corporation located near the tehsil across the Bahera Road termination. Certain prominent businessmen who spoke toCN expressed reservations on the auction. They said that the price fixed by the authorities, Rs 30,000 per square yard, was on the higher side. They said they did not expect many bidders to come forward to participate.

An old-timer, who runs a property agency in the city, said he did not think anybody with so much of white money would come and invest in Patiala. Even several other markets in the busy areas of the city have not been very successful, he opined. Some of the employees of the corporation, who did not wish to be identified, said they were saddened by the developments.

``I have been working here for the last about 15 years and have come to develop sentimental attachment with the building and I wish the corporation had retained this building instead of auctioning it, he confided.

Swatantar Bansal, a political activist, asserted that there was no space shortage in the offices of the MC. If at all there was any shortage of accommodation, only some of the branches could be shifted to new premises.