The Times of India             19.08.2013

Survey done for civic body upgrade

KOLKATA: The urban development department has completed the survey required to upgrade Bidhannagar Municipality into a municipal corporation.

The area jurisdiction map to denote the localities that will fall under the corporation will be finalised shortly. The government is planning to complete the upgrade by the end of this year.

Land measurement and survey to chalk out the map began soon after chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced the upgrade, said an official. According to plans, the corporation will include some parts of Rajarhat New Town that now fall under Hidco's jurisdiction, some that fall under panchayats and some under Rajarhat-Gopalpur Municipality. Some wards under South Dum Dum and Dum Dum municipalities could also be included in the corporation, including the airport.

At present, Bidhannagar Municipality comprises three sectors of Salt Lake. Sector V, which used to come under the municipality's jurisdiction, was later brought under the Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority that was constituted in January 2006 to look after the IT hub.

Civic officials said the upgrade will bring the Salt Lake civic body benefits like more government grants and more manpower that will translate into improved services like solid waste disposal, cleaning of roads, road repair and the like. Currently, the civic body gets an annual grant of about Rs 3.30 crore, which could jump to more than Rs 10 crore once it turns into a municipal corporation.