Nand Lal, who was instructed by the state government to inquire into the civic anarchy in Ulhasnagar, says the caprice and connivance of corporators and civic officials with the all-powerful builders' lobby has bled the treasury to the extent that the corporation could afford to start building just two roads during the 1998-99 financial year. Following is the concluding part of Nand Lal's report, which was submitted to the chief minister on July 3.

By the time corporators, civic officials and builders had struck corrupt deals, the coffers of the Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation (UMC) had turned into a bottomless pit. Hence, with virtually no one to monitor the corporation's revenue and expenditure, the verycustodians of civic responsibility invited the worst possible problems on the township's residents, the report states.

``The UMC's earnings accrue mainly from property tax, water tax and rent from shops in the municipal markets. The civic body had dues to be recovered from citizens amounting to over Rs 33 crore when it was elevated to corporation status on October 21, 1996. It was expected that civic officials and corporators would improve the situation. Sadly, as on March 31, 1999, the dues had more than doubled to an astonishing Rs 57 crore,'' reads the report.

Being unable to provide water to citizens on its own, the UMC had to depend on the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation's Water Supply Department and the state government's Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran, it states. ``The civic body owed over Rs 40 crore to these bodies as on December 31, 1996. As civic officials did not attempt to increase revenue, the UMC could not pay its pending bills. As a result, as on March 31, 1999, thecorporation was supposed to pay more than Rs 72 crore to the two bodies.

This is bound to result in a heavy increase in water charges for residents,'' the report points out.

``With hardly any money available, the UMC could not initiate any development or maintainance works. In the 1998-99 financial year, it could begin work for laying of only two roads, estimated to cost about Rs 2.5 crore. This means the UMC was able to spend merely 4.5 per cent of its earnings towards development work. Consequently, this translated into serious trouble for the citizens,'' it adds.

Nand Lal has recommended that the government take stern measures. ``The corporators have become a major stumbling block in improvement of UMC. The errant corporators, especially the 31 listed herein, must be disqualified and restrained from contesting elections for the next six years. The corporation must be dissolved immediately to make way for a new set of corporators who might improve the situation,'' the report reads.

Nand Lal hasalso recommended extremely punitive measures for errant officials listed in the report. It recommends action against the then deputy municipal commissioner, V S Joglekar, who was in charge of UMC`s finances. Joglekar has since retired.

The report has also recommended a special inquiry by the Anti-Corruption Bureau against corporators for possessing wealth and property disproportionate to their known sources of income. It also recommends that a ``bold and strict'' IAS officer be appointed as UMC commissioner.

The report now awaits scrutiny by Chief Minister Narayan Rane, who recently said he requires time to study the recommendations. Till then, Ulhasnagar's residents can only keep their fingers crossed.