Sidhu releases ₹102 crore for Amritsar MC
AMRITSAR: AFTER making entry into the maiden general house meeting of the newly formed municipal corporation (MC) house on Friday, Punjab minister for local bodies and tourism Navjot Singh Sidhu announced a grant of ₹102 crore for sewerage system in the south-east part of the city and the incomplete sewage project under the Japan International Agency (JIA). He said the local bodies department has arranged the money by taking a loan.
Stressing that there will be no dearth of funds, the minister said, "The MC will also get around ₹100 crore from the regularisation of hotels in the ‘galliara’. This money will come to the corporation within this year. The scheme of regularisation has already been passed," said the minister.
As mayor Karamjit Singh Rintu demanded for additional ₹100 crore, Sidhu announced that he will bring this ₹100 crores as a special gift from Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh. "I will do whatever possible and request the CM to give ₹100 crore to this corporation as early as possible," he added.
Terming each councillor as voice of 15,000 residents of the city, the minister said that councillors are the roots that will lead to development so everyone must rise above party interst and work for the city in a united manner. The minister also promised that within the next three to four months, the city will witness 100% streetlighting.
The minister said that in the coming future, the issuance of death and birth certificates, maps and other things will be regularised in the best possible manner. MC commissioner Sonali Giri and joint commissioner Sorabh Arora were also present in the meeting.
Sidhu recalled that as the MP, he had brought ₹100 crore for the city during the mayorship of Shwait Malik, but nothing much happened in the past 5 years due to a tussle between the then local bodies minister Anil Joshi and then mayor Bakshi Ram Arora.