Chandigarh, March 29: Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal said that the state government is committed to give full autonomy to the local governments, that is, the municipal bodies; so that the works at the local level can be done in a time-bound and expeditious manner. For the year 2022-23, out of the State's Own Tax Revenue (SOTR) of about Rs 65,000 crore, about Rs 3,600 crore will be given to the municipal bodies. Apart from this, an additional Rs 500 crore will be given for the previous dues. In this way the municipal bodies will get Rs 4,100 crore, to get development works done at their own level. Apart from this, a total amount of Rs 5,000 crore is already available in all the municipal bodies.
The Chief Minister was chairing a review meeting of the works being done by the Urban Local Bodies Department with the mayors of Municipal Corporations and District Municipal Commissioners here today. Urban Local Bodies Minister Dr. Kamal Gupta was also present in the meeting. Taking cognizance of the complaint of negligence in work during the meeting, the Chief Minister ordered the suspension of Narwana's executive engineer, LC Chauhan with immediate effect.
During the meeting, the Chief Minister announced that the state government will bear the cost of construction of office buildings of municipal corporations, municipal councils and municipalities. “If there is a need to buy land for the building or to transfer it from any department, then its expenses will also be borne by the state government. If any municipal body wants to do commercial activities by constructing a building on its land, it can do so. This will give additional income to the local bodies and this money will be used in the interest of the public,” he said, adding that for this, such types of projects should be operated by taking loan or on PPP mode.
State level committee for restructuring and rationalization in municipal bodies
Sh. Manohar Lal said that a state-level committee should be constituted for restructuring and rationalization in the municipal bodies, which would conduct a complete study by visiting the municipal bodies. Instructing the officers, he said that a common portal should be made for auction of properties in all the municipal bodies. “If the bidding is unsuccessful due to any reason, then the bidding should be done again within one month and its responsibility will be of the district municipal commissioner,” he added.
Instructions to extend time limit for applying for birth, death and marriage certificates from 21 to 30 days
The Chief Minister directed the officials to increase the time limit for applying for birth, death and marriage certificates from 21 days to 30 days. After that, provision should be made to apply with late fee. Apart from this, he also gave instructions to the officers to check the documents of the citizens at one time, so that they do not have to make rounds of the offices. The officials were also directed to enter the status of the application in the Auto Appeal software, so that in case of cancellation; the appeal automatically goes to the next authority.
Giving further instructions, the Chief Minister said that the registration of new illegal colonies will not be done and the colonies already formed, in which some parts or patches are shown to be irregular; should be regularized according to the prescribed criteria. He said that the government has approved 190 colonies recently and around 600-700 colonies are in the pipeline.
Mayor should hold Janta Darbar to hear public grievances
Sh. Manohar Lal said that the Mayor should hold Janta Darbar to hear the grievances and complaints of the people and the district municipal commissioner should also be present on the occasion. Instructing the district municipal commissioners, he said that while giving autonomy to the local bodies, the state government has made a system that the files for all the works should not reach the headquarters level, but should be done at the civic body level itself.
Field tour and programme to start from Bhiwani from April 2
Addressing the mediapersons, the Chief Minister said that the meeting was held in two phases today. In the first phase, there was a detailed discussion with the Mayors about the local issues, while in the second phase, necessary guidelines were given to the officers on these subjects. He said that the field work was stopped due to Covid and now field programmes will be started to interact with the public. The first field visit is scheduled from April 2 to April 4 in Bhiwani.
E-Fasal Kshatipurti portal re-opened for convenience of farmers
Responding to a question, the Chief Minister said that only those farmers who had earlier registered themselves on the Meri Fasal Mera Byora portal could register their crop loss details on the e-Fasal Kshatipurti portal. A complaint was received from some farmers that they had not registered themselves on the Meri Fasal Mera Byora portal earlier and due to this, they are not able to register crop damage information on the Kshatipurti portal. Taking cognizance of the complaints of such farmers, now the government has reopened the portal.
Additional Chief Secretary, Urban Local Bodies, Sh. Arun Gupta, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Sh. V. Umashankar, OSD to Chief Minister, Sh. Jawahar Yadav along with other officials were present in the meeting.