Friday, 09 April 2021 | PNS | Dehradun
The representatives of the civic bodies have asked the Urban Development department to provide them 25 per cent of the revenue collected by the district development authorities to carry out development projects in their respective areas. Besides this, they also proposed to provide new water connections at the affordable price of Rs 100 each to all the residents of urban areas. These issues were raised in a meeting chaired by the Urban Development minister Banshidhar Bhagat at the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) to discuss the development plans in all the civic bodies of the State. The meeting was attended by the mayors of all the municipal corporations except the mayor of Kotdwar along with the representatives of other ULBs and some officials concerned. While interacting with media persons after the meeting, Bhagat said that several ideas were proposed and discussed in the meeting and some decisions were also taken for the development of various regions. He informed that the ULBs pay the allowances to the sanitation workers of their respective Mohalla Swachhata Samiti despite the limited revenue sources. It was proposed in the meeting that the State finance commission can be approached to pay the allowances to the workers under such committees. Bhagat said that this idea would be considered after discussing it with the department concerned. The representatives of the ULBs also asked Bhagat for 25 per cent of the total revenue collected by the district development authorities to fund development projects in their respective areas. It was also proposed that the work of sewerage and drinking water must be managed by the ULBs in their respective areas which are currently managed by Jal Sansthan. Responding to such proposals, Bhagat stated that all such ideas and recommendations would be discussed in the coming cabinet meeting.
The urban development minister also disclosed that the representatives of the civic bodies informed him that the condition of roads is deteriorating in various regions and it becomes difficult for ULBs to maintain proper roads throughout the year due to lack of funds and labour. Considering this, Bhagat said that Public Works Department (PWD) would handle the construction and maintenance work of roads that fall under the civic bodies until the State government provides them with sufficient finance and labour support.
Meanwhile, the mayor of Haridwar, Anita Sharma alleged that the government is being biased against the Municipal Corporation of Haridwar (MCH) because she belongs to the opposition party. While talking to the media persons outside the meeting hall, Sharma said that the level of sanitisation facilities has considerably dropped in Haridwar city due to a lack of funds and support from the BJP led State Government. When Bhagat was asked about these allegations, he said that he has received no such complaint so far while adding that he had called every mayor along with other representatives of all the civic bodies to this meeting irrespective of their political affiliation to discuss the development plans.
