Corporators to tour Uttarakhand to study local bodies’ work there

LUCKNOW: Corporators of the state capital are all set to tour the neighbouring state of Uttarakhand next month to study and learn from the work performed by the local bodies there.

Although, past tours by corporators (to Singapore and Gujarat) did nothing for Lucknow’s civic infrastructure, mayor Sanyukta Bhatia asserted that this tour would be different. “They will be able to see the tremendous work performed by the local bodies in Uttarkhand, which was affected by floods and earthquake in 2013 and 2015,” she said. All corporators, including the mayor, would be a part of the tour.

The mayor said all corporators would have to submit detailed reports after the tour in which they would have to mention the measures that could be adopted in the state capital to improve the civic infrastructure.

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They will be able to see the tremendous work performed by the local bodies in U’khand, which was affected by floods and earthquake in 2013 and 2015. SANYUKTA BHATIA, mayor

Bhatia clarified that the study tour would not be a junket or a holiday on hills. “There is a lot to learn. Their roads, storm water drainage, sewage infrastructure and waste management have been transformed over the years,” she said.

However, leader of the opposition in LMC House, Sayyed Yawar Hussain Reshu, was sceptical about the tour yielding any actual good for the state capital.

“The benefit of such tours is only when something is implemented on ground. For instance, corporators toured Singapore during Mayawati’s regime and also submitted reports, however, nothing was implemented. Similarly, last year, corporators went to tour Gujarat and again submitted reports, but nothing happended after that.”

Reshu said that the croporators must be involved by officials at every step whenever a development project was undertaken. “Or else, these tours will just serve as fun trips,” he said.

However, others were happy that the tour was not costing anything to the Lucknow Municipal Corporation. The mayor clarified that the tour expense would be borne by the government as it wanted corporators to see and learn from the model adopted by other municipal corporations.

“If the tour is not costing anything to LMC, what’s the harm in going to Uttarakhand for a learning trip?” said Congress corporator Girish Mishra.