E-Paper
J’khand urban polls to pave way for ₹2k cr Central funds but Jamshedpur misses out
Jharkhand's municipal elections may unlock ₹2,148 crore in Central funds, but Jamshedpur remains without a municipal body, losing out on critical grants.
Even as municipal elections in 48 urban local bodies (ULBs) in Jharkhand on Monday pave the path for ₹2,148 crore Central funds, Jamshedpur has once again been left high and dry with no municipal body—its people deprived of the constitutional right to vote in urban polls and the city missing out on thousands of crores in Central grants, people aware of the matter said on Sunday.
Jharkhand has missed out on ₹2,148 crore of Central grants for the past three years because elections were not held in these 48 ULBs. The 15th Finance Commission funds of ₹728 crore were stalled in 2025-26 alone. These funds were withheld for the past three years because elected ULBs could not be formed in the state.
“With the municipal elections being held in the 48 ULBs, the path will now be cleared for the release of ₹2,148 crore Central grant and finance commission funds. Our primary focus is on completing the projects stalled for the past three years due to a lack of funds. I have directed the urban development department (UDD) officials to prepare a work plan for developing civic facilities like efficient sewerage and drainage systems, sanitation and clean piped drinking water projects for all the ULBs apart from urban infrastructure,” Sudivya Kumar Sonu, Jharkhand urban development minister, told HT on Sunday.
Reminded that Jamshedpur, where municipal elections have never been held post-independence, would miss out on Central funds worth thousands of crores again, the minister said, “Tata Steel is also a stakeholder in Jamshedpur. A solution (to this imbroglio) will have to be found through talks with them.”
“State UDD secretary Sunil Kumar has already written to the Government of India, informing that the municipal election process has started in Jharkhand and requesting the early release of the 15th Finance Commission funds. Soon elected ULBs will be formed and there will be no obstacle in using finance commission funds,” a senior official said.
Jawaharlal Sharma, fighting a legal battle for a municipal corporation in Jamshedpur for the past 36 years, however, said the easiest way to break the stalemate for the state government was to form a municipal corporation in Jamshedpur and hold its election.
“The Supreme Court (SC) in 1989, undivided Bihar government in 1990 and then the Jharkhand HC and government had ordered and issued notifications for the formation of a municipal corporation in Jamshedpur. But every time Tata Steel stalled it by taking the matter to the SC. If the state government is serious about Jamshedpur’s development like other major cities in the country, they can easily form a municipal corporation in Jamshedpur and hold its election to pave the way for Central funding as well as World Bank and IMF funding, tax revenue through octroi duty, property tax etc. worth thousands of crores. Isn’t it the government’s duplicity that being itself a democratically elected government, it is holding urban polls in 48 ULBs but not in Jamshedpur, denying its citizens their democratic and constitutional right to vote?” Sharma told HT on Sunday.
“If one counts from 1950 when the Constitution was adopted, Jamshedpur must have lost not less than a lakh crore. Worse, the state government too has been losing revenue worth thousands of crores during all these decades of deliberate deadlock. We will continue our battle for a municipal corporation in Jamshedpur and people’s right to vote,” said Sharma, the petitioner challenging the state government’s notification for ‘Industrial Town’ in Jamshedpur.
Earlier, Jamshedpur’s twin City agreement with Seoul and millennium city partnership with Melbourne could not take off as there is no elected municipal body in the city.
Mango missed ₹350 crore
“Take the instance of Mango which has lost not less than ₹350 crore of Central grants since a municipal corporation was formed in Mango in 2017. Earlier, it was the Mango Notified Area Committee (MNAC), like Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee (JNAC), which has no legal validity to exist. The Centre grants ₹40 to ₹60 crore per year to each of the ULBs,” a former MNAC special officer said, not willing to be quoted.
Jugsalai election after 44 years
The last time urban polls were held in Jugsalai Nagar Parishad (JNP) was in 1982, which means it too must have lost Central funds nothing less than ₹400-500 crore during the past 44 years. “JNP never got performance grants under the Amrit Mission Swachh Bharat 2.0, schemes run by the Union ministry of urban development and housing,” a former JNP CEO, reminded.
