The Indian Express              04.10.2013

Bogged down by 700 calls a day, MC employees seek more helpline numbers

Employees of Ludhiana MC on Wednesday requested additional commissioner Isha Kalia for more helpline numbers as they are not being able to attend to more than 700 calls in regards to property tax per day. An employee said, "It is impossible to run a helpline with only one number for a city with more than 16 lakh population. Even if we talk for 1-2 minutes, many calls are on wait and its impossible to call them back as new calls keep coming." He added that while they have been asked to attend calls from 9 am to 6pm, they also have been told to manage their usual public dealing duty on chair. Both works cannot be done simultaneously. He added, "We have been told that more handsets will be given. One can call the helpline at 97800-22410 or can call a mobile van service at 97800-10452.  

The Hindu              04.10.2013

GVMC appoints agency to ground PPP projects

Special Correspondent

The Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation has appointed Nagpur-based Axikno Agencies to help take forward its projects being taken up in Public-Private Partnership mode, GVMC Commissioner M V Satyanarayana said.

Addressing media here on Thursday he said that the agency working in the PPP cell would help prepare the detailed project report and follow it up with different Government departments and also help follow up on the execution of the project. The GVMC has selected the Axikno Agencies after following a tendering process. The agreement has been signed for one year.

The agency would be paid on performance and is expected to take up preparation of three DPRs in a month and then follow them up with the Government departments in Hyderabad as required. The agency which has rich experience in similar projects in Punjab has the expertise in urban planning, structural engineering, legal and finance fields which will ensure that comprehensive project report is prepared and finalised.

The agency would also be involved in pre tender process, helping the civic body draw up a detailed request for proposal, evaluate the expression of interest and shortlist the investors for the project, among others, the Commissioner explained. Instead of appointing a separate consultant for each project having one consultant on board would hasten the process, he said.

The GVMC proposes to take up 15 projects in the PPP mode and these would be handled by the consultants, he said. The consultant would also study all the available land owned by the civic body and draw up the best use options for them. The GVMC would then be able to take an informed decision on the subject, Mr Satyanarayana said.