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Expo on municipal services

Friday, 06 November 2009 04:40 administrator
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The Business Line 06.11.2009

Expo on municipal services

Kolkata, Nov. 5

The Mayor of Kolkata, Mr Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, on Thursday visited Municipalika 2009, the international exhibition on municipal services, urban development and public works, being held here for the first time. Addressing a meeting at the exhibition, Mr Bhattacharya said general public must be encouraged to educate one another on environment hazards posed by discarded plastic products as nobody would listen to politicians these days. - Our Bureau.

Last Updated on Friday, 06 November 2009 04:41
 

Councillors’ feet get itchy again, another study tour proposed

Thursday, 05 November 2009 11:09 administrator
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Indian Express 5.11.2009

Councillors’ feet get itchy again, another study tour proposed

When it comes to proposing study tours, it is perseverance that councillors of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation live up to.

While the UT Administration has turned down the demand for such tours over the past two years, councillors have yet again expressed a desire to go on a study tour to see a live demonstration of multi-media lazer show that is proposed to be installed in the Sector -17 Plaza. This time, the destination is Mumbai. The issue was discussed in the co-ordination meeting with the UT Administration today.

During the House Meet held in August, a proposal to provide a multi-media lazer show on water screen along with ultra-modern fast action musical dancing fountain in the Plaza was discussed. The presentation was attended by a few senior officials of the Administration and Municipal Corporation.

The councillors had demanded the screening of the presentation in the House so that they could get an idea on what the show was about. But the agenda was deferred. Instead, a presentation was given where Mayor and area councillor Pardeep Chhabra were present apart from other officials.

However, the issue was discussed again during the co-ordination meeting held on October 13 where Municipal Commissioner Roshan Sunkaria aired the wishes of the councillors.

Some of the councillors, however, claim that they became aware of the demand only when the minutes of the meeting were sent to them.

“The Administration has rejected all the previous demands of the councillors for study tours. Only 19 councillors were allowed to visit Singapore, Malaysia and Bangkok. The proposed tour to Europe and a few other places was also turned down. We are not beggars that we put forth such demands that are never going to be fulfilled. Moreover, the functioning of fountains can be seen through a presentation in the MC office,” said a councillor.

Recently, the UT Administrator had rejected the study tour to Gujarat and had sought objections from the Municipal Commissioner. The demand for laptops has also been rejected thrice.

Fountain fixation

The fascination of the UT Administration and Municipal Corporation for installing fountains has resulted in fountains coming up in greenbelts, roundabouts, parks as well all entry and exit points of the city. The MC has approved two new fountains — a musical fountain for Sector 15 (Rs 62 lakh) and a Simmering Volcano Water Feature for Sector 24 (Rs 24 lakh).

There is also a proposal to installl fountains in all the 26 wards of the city. However, concerns have been raised over their maintenance. It has been seen that at places where the fountains are already installed, some parts get stolen due to which the fountains remain defunct till they are repaired.

Last Updated on Thursday, 05 November 2009 11:12
 

Minority sops ahead of KMC polls

Thursday, 05 November 2009 06:37 administrator
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The Times of India 05.11.2009

Minority sops ahead of KMC polls

Swati Sengupta, TNN 5 November 2009, 07:26am IST

KOLKATA: As Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) goes to polls next year, the Left Front government is making a desperate attempt to woo minority voters in a bid to retain the Left board. A slew of housing, health, education, sanitation and drinking water projects are lined up in Muslim-dominated pockets of the city.

The projects, worth a whopping Rs 160 crore, is targeted specifically at the community with the message that the Left board is serious about improving their lot. While KMC and the state government will pump in Rs 135 crore, the Centre will pitch in with the balance.

At a meeting a few days ago, the Centre, "in principle", cleared a proposal that allows KMC and the state government to dole out several development schemes for the financially backward Muslims. The projects that have received the nod include 15 ward health units, 200 tube wells, 150 community toilets and 100 Anganwadi schools in minority-dominated pockets and two classrooms each in 25 Urdu-medium schools.

In addition, KMC has planned an upgrade of Muslim burial grounds and ambulances, door-to-door garbage collection, vocational training centres and 30 night shelters in minority dominated areas. It also intends to build hostels for working Muslim men and women and set up 15 Urdu schools including five only for girls. Altogether, 100 fresh recruitments of Urdu and Hindi teachers are to be made for these.

The biggest scheme of the lot is a housing project worth Rs 90 crore for slum-dwellers. Though it is not directly targeted at Muslims, since concentration of poor Muslims living in slums is high, they are expected to benefit most from the project.

The move to woo Muslims follows the community decision to desert the Left at the Lok Sabha polls. A survey conducted at the behest of the state government and KMC vindicated the Sachar Committee report. It showed that minorities comprise 29% of the BPL population in the city and a significant percentage of the city's homeless. It also found that in 37 out of 141 wards, minority households constitute over 30% BPL households.

In this context, the projects are a desperate attempt to set things right ahead of the crucial KMC elections that could set the trend for the Assembly elections a year later. "We will start implementing them soon," an official of the state urban development department confirmed.

Nevertheless, mayor Bikash Bhattacharya and his lieutenant, MMiC (parks and squares) Faiyaz Ahmed Khan, insisted that the projects were based on uplifting the poor and did not target a particular community.

"It has nothing to do with the civic elections," Bhattacharya insisted. Khan, too, stated that KMC had never taken up programmes on the basis of religion. "The projects are for the poor and those living in slums. It is incidental that a majority of slum dwellers are Muslims," he said.
 
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