The Hindu 26.11.2009
52 town panchayats to get municipal council status
Special Correspondent
Tumkur City Municipal Council to get city corporation status
Proposal to upgrade village panchayats to town panchayats will have to wait
BANGALORE: As many as 52 town panchayats in the State are to be upgraded into town municipal councils (TMCs).
Disclosing this to presspersons in Bangalore on Tuesday, Municipal Administration Minister Balachandra Jarkiholi said the issue would be taken up before the State Cabinet for its clearance. They are to being upgraded on the basis of increase in population. The 52 town panchayats would benefit as change in the status would also increase their annual allocation from the present Rs. 2 crore to Rs. 5 crore. Besides, the number of wards would also increase from 15 to 20. Similarly, Tumkur City Municipal Council would get city corporation status, he said. However, the proposal to upgrade about 400 village panchayats into town panchayats would not be considered now as elections were to be held for village panchayats in January 2010, he said. These panchayats may have to wait till the next census to get the new status.
The process of direct recruitment of about 800 personnel for the municipal bodies, which had begun recently, was expected to be completed by January 2010. The posts for which recruitments were being held included those of engineers, accountants, stenographers and drivers. The Minister said his department had now made it mandatory for the urban local bodies to entrust the task of solid waste management to the Stree Shakti self-help groups. A notification had been issued to this effect on September 7.
The SHGs would collect a nominal amount from each of the houses for garbage disposal. They would convert the garbage into manure which would be diverted to the market. Each of the wards in the urban local bodies would require one to two SHGs for handling the garbage, he said.
