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Why does the State Govt. want to be a vegetables vendor?
City.Zen - 24 November, 2007 | Bangalore | governance | Everything else
There is a Saphal outlet located in a single storied building on a sprawling site in 8th Block Koramangala, selling vegetables, etc. I believe there are many such outlets all over the city. Questions: (1) Why is the Govt. so eager to run a business? (2) Why has the Govt. wasted so much tax-payers' money on this ill-planned building which does not generate revenue commensurate with the investment? If the Govt. had instead given the land on lease at commercial rates to private retail groups, they would have exploited the space potential to the fullest thereby generating sufficient revenue as well as providing adequate space to meet the general demand. The retail groups would provide the same vegetables vending service more efficiently and economically. (3) Can the ITax payers or Public Affairs forums file a case against the Govt. for wasting funds on such business projects in which the Govt. lacks the expertise? (4) Can the concerned Secretaries/other decision makers in the Govt. be held accountable?
COMMENTS
another point to consider ...
silkboard - 27 November, 2007 - 02:28
Another angle that you forget to cover here city.zen is this. I bet these outlets etc are not as efficient as they should be. The result? We pay far more than what we would if these things were run efficiently. So now, can we sue state govt to get back the extra amount we have been paying for their incompetency? Anyway, I think all this is lnked to the debate about amending the APMC act. Don't know where all that is headed now.
another point to consider ...
City.Zen - 27 November, 2007 - 13:13
Actually, the point that should have been made clear was optimum utilization of the scare land resources in the city. Realty prices have hit the sky with unsatiated demand and one way of reducing prices both of land and essential commodities like vegetables would be making the best use of the resources available with the govt., namely, LAND. If the govt. had made the best use of these prime plots of land at its command, the govt./or rather the Agricultural Marketing dept. would have earned good revenue which would have been ample to meet the operating costs of the vending business like staff salaries, maintenance, etc. and it could have sold the produce at near zero margins thus providing stiff competition to big corporate retail malls. City Zen
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