The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Government wants manual scavenging to go by October 2

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 08, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Government wants manual scavenging to go by October 2

Special Correspondent

Raise adequate revenue through property tax, municipal bodies told

— Photo: K. Murali Kumar

Pep talk: Mayors, Deputy Mayors, and presidents of CMCs and TMCs at a convention in Bangalore on Monday.

Bangalore: Chief Minister B.S.Yeddyurappa on Monday directed officials of the Department of Municipal Administration and mayors and commissioners of urban local bodies in the State to put an end to the “uncivilised practice” of manual scavenging, by October 2.

Addressing a convention of mayors of corporations, presidents of city municipal councils and other urban local bodies, their commissioners and senior officials of the State Government, the Chief Minister said effective steps should be taken to end scavenging completely.

Minister for Urban Development S. Suresh Kumar, briefing presspersons on the discussions at meet, said the Government was finalising a plan to provide drinking water from rivers and reservoirs to people of all urban local bodies (ULBs).

Presently, a part of the supply is from local borewells, and a major complaint of the people is over the supply of contaminated water.

Further, drinking water supply would be hit when borewells go dry.

Both the Chief Minister and the Urban Development Minister called upon the municipal bodies to raise adequate revenue through property tax.

Presently, taxes were collected only from around 50 per cent of the properties, and unauthorised constructions were also rampant in urban local bodies.

Alarmed by the Rs. 500 crore arrears due from urban bodies to the Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Sewerage Board, Mr. Yeddyurappa called upon the elected representatives and officers to concentrate on mobilisation of resources.

Encroachers of the ULB lands and public spaces such as lakes in Bangalore should be evicted.

He said that the ULBs should build commercial structures and raise funds for providing civic amenities to the people.

Recalling his own experience as president of Shikaripur Town Municipality, the Chief Minister advised them to work like a monitor for maintaining the quality of works.

Mr. Suresh Kumar said the urban bodies had to gear up in providing better civic amenities, more so, as an increasing number of the State’s population was migrating to urban areas.

He said the Government had also fixed December 31 as the deadline for having a solid waste management system in all the urban local bodies, as per the guidelines of the Union Government.

The State Government had also submitted an affidavit in the Supreme Court promising that a solid waste management system would be in place in the jurisdiction of urban local bodies by the year-end.

Mr. Suresh Kumar said similar conventions of municipal chiefs and officials would be held at the divisional level.

All vacancies in the urban bodies would also be filled to ensure better amenities to the people.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka

News Update

Stories in this Section