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General Administration

Municipal corporation to restart demolition drive

Tuesday, 28 May 2013 12:24 administrator
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The Times of India            28.05.2013

Municipal corporation to restart demolition drive

AURANGABAD: Flexing its arms against illegal encroachments in the city yet again, the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) on Monday initiated its drive to demolish roadside structures. Priyanka Kesarkar, administrative officer in the AMC, said the civic body would carry out the demolition drive till the monsoon sets in. "The drive was put on hold over the past few days, but municipal commissioner Harshdeep Kamble has now directed to restart it," she said.

Kesarkar said the civic body had demolished 10 kiosks and 10 other temporary structures on the road between Mill Corner and Barapulla Gate. She said the drive would continue on May 28. The civic body would remove similar encroachments in other parts of the city. "We have already served notices to the targeted encroachers and asked them to vacate the spaces. If they do not react to AMC notices, we will remove illegal occupants," she said.

The administrative officer added that the AMC plans to remove encroachments along some of the city's important roads. A team of 35 officials and 15 police personnel participated in the drive on Monday. 

 

Allahabad Municipal Corporation council passes Jal Sansthan budget

Tuesday, 28 May 2013 12:21 administrator
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The Times of India            28.05.2013

Allahabad Municipal Corporation council passes Jal Sansthan budget

ALLAHABAD: The budget of Jal Sansthan was passed with some changes in the meeting of executive council of Allahabad Municipal Corporation conducted on Monday. The city mayor Abhilasha Gupta and members of the executive council were present in the meeting.

It was decided that the water charge for people in 0-2700 slab will be waived off. In the previous budget, water charge was waived for people in the 0-360 slab. A resolution was also passed in the meeting that all contracts for cleaning sewage pipelines should be terminated. Further, the private contracts for operation of tube wells were also terminated.

It was decided that from now onwards, the policy of one contractor-one tube well will be applicable and no contractor will be allowed contract for multiple tube wells. The amount for purchasing new pumping sets was reduced from 80 lakh to 40 lakh. The budget for maintenance of damaged water pipelines of the city which was earlier 150 lakh was reduced to 140 lakh.

During the meeting, members of the executive council including Shiv Sewak Singh, Athar Raza Ladley and others participated. AMC and Jal Sansthan officers were also present in the meeting. In a novel move, closed circuit television ( CCTV) cameras were placed in the hall to record the proceedings.

 

Corporations log out of Facebook

Tuesday, 28 May 2013 11:50 administrator
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The Times of India            28.05.2013

Corporations log out of Facebook

NEW DELHI: The impact of Facebook cannot be overestimated but our municipal corporations think otherwise. After trifurcation, all three corporations were active on the social networking site but for the past six months, there has been no response.

North and East corporation officials are of the view that Facebook initiative wasn't successful and have opted to start a call centre. "We did upload circulars but the response hasn't been very good. Not everyone has access to Internet," said V P Pandey, chairman, DEMS committee, North corporation.

The maintenance of the Facebook page lies with DEMS department as it addresses sanitation-related problems. North corporation uploaded circulars related to pension, notices from Director Local Bodies and those related to property tax.

"Since trifurcation, the post to look after the Facebook page has not been filled. Starting a call centre is a better option than updating the page. East corporation has already started a call centre and we are also planning one. Everyone has a landline," said Pandey.

The last time there was a response on Facebook from the corporation was in September 2012. While officials say the response has been poor, people have been posting complaints regularly. The last complaint was posted on South corporation's page on May 12.

Even the councillors were surprised by corporation's response. "The residents of my area regularly post on my Facebook page and the site has helped me connect with the locals. It is surprising that the officials believe Facebook isn't doing much," said Abhishek Dutt, Andrews Ganj councillor.

South corporation officials say with limited resources and no official to maintain the page, they are unable to respond to the queries. "However, the complaints are forwarded to the department concerned. Earlier, our staff used to upload photos of cleaned dhalaos or action taken on the complaint. We do not do it anymore as we are struggling with staff shortage," said Mukesh Yadav, spokesperson, South corporation.

The corporations were also mulling the proposal to give Android phones to its sanitation inspectors so that they can upload photos of clean dhalaos. But due to shortage of funds, the plan never took off. 

 
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