MAYOR Dr Uma Shashi Sharma on Monday called for magisterial powers to be accorded to municipal corporations to augment revenue incomes and allow them to deal strictly with encroachers. Announcing that 31 projects amounting to Rs 1,492 crore had been cleared by the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) the Mayor stressed the need for fiscal strengthening of civic bodies.
“One of the ways to save money is promoting public participation in developmental works. But for this we need to gain the people’s trust. Among the main factors behind Indore’s development is the cooperative attitude of local residents as well as the business community,” said Dr Sharma.
She was addressing a Mayors’ conference organised at Jabalpur to commemorate the second anniversary of the Jabalpur Municipal Corporation (JMC) general council.
Assembly Speaker Iswardas Rohani, Secretary, Urban Administration and Development department Malay Shrivastava as well as mayors from 10 of the 14-odd municipal corporations of the State were present on the occasion.
Dr Sharma declared that when it came to development, Indore was eager to leave even the State capital behind. “Indore is carrying out many civic infrastructure works but we do not need to look to outside agencies for funding. Residents believe that we’re sincere about providing them with better amenities. So they’re ready to contribute towards public participation projects,” said the Mayor.
She disclosed that the Corporation was increasingly favouring the build-operate-transfer (B-O-T) method and added that bus stops, escalators and public toilets were all being built on this pattern.
{{/usCountry}}She disclosed that the Corporation was increasingly favouring the build-operate-transfer (B-O-T) method and added that bus stops, escalators and public toilets were all being built on this pattern.
{{/usCountry}}The IMC has also mapped out a blueprint for building 500 gardens out of which 200 are already complete. “Yoga classes are conducted at these so that the gardens are resulting not only in a healthy environment but also healthy bodies,” declared Dr Sharma.
Sunil Sood (Bhopal), Vivek Narain Shejwalkar (Gwalior), Vimla Pandey (Satna), Virendra Gupta (Rewa), Ram Lallu Vaishya (Singrauli), Vir Singh (Khandwa), Sandeep Jaiswal (Katni), Atul Patel (Burhanpur) and Sushila Singh (Jabalpur) were among the mayors who attended the event.