Chandigarh, April 26: In a bid to improve efficacy ofavailable resources and optimize the utilization of assets, the Punjab Cabinetled by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday gave approval forRedevelopment, Operation & Maintenance (O&M) of Circuit Houses atAmritsar, Ludhiana and Jalandhar on Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode.
Disclosing this here today, a spokesperson of the ChiefMinister's Office said that Punjab Infrastructure Development Board (PIDB)being the nodal agency of the state has been authorised for taking necessaryaction in this regard.
The spokesperson further said that the GeneralAdministration department intends to develop and operate circuit houses atLudhiana and Jalandhar on Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode to be operatedas Circuit Houses-cum-Hotels.
Pertinently, the General Administration department operates10 Circuit Houses in Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Bathinda, Ferozepur,Faridkot, Patiala, Gurdaspur, Chandigarh and Shimla. In addition there are twoPunjab Bhawans in New Delhi and Chandigarh. These Circuit Houses were developedfor stay of Government Officers/Officials visiting different districtheadquarters for official work. However, over a period of time on account ofrecurrent expenditure on maintenance and updating of the facilities of CircuitHouses lead to financial burden on the state government. Further, the qualityof services has also gone down significantly. High fixed costs apportioned oversignificantly lower capacity translates into poor economics on account of highoperating expenses vis a vis the realizations.