MC polls likely in Oct, says Hry minister
Haryana urban local bodies minister Kavita Jain on Monday said that the elections of municipal corporations (MCs) which were due in July, were likely in the next four months.
Briefing newspersons here, she said that while the wardbandi (ward delimitation) of MCs of Rohtak, Hisar and Yamunanagar had been done, the same in the remaining MCs was in progress.
Apart from the three named above, the remaining seven MCs are in Panchkula, Ambala, Karnal, Panipat, Sonepat, Gurugram and Faridabad.
While elections of Gurugram and Faridabad have already been held, cases challenging MCs of Panchkula and Ambala are in court and the Sonepat MC wardbandi term is not due yet. Thus the process of ward delimitation for the remaining two MCs of Karnal and Panipat is likely in a month’s time, following which the polls in all the five MCs will be held around October.
Elaborating upon the department’s working, Jain said that in its four-year tenure, the state government has allocated budget amounting to ₹15,828 crore to civic bodies of which ₹9,780 crore had been released.
She said that the street vendors (protection of livelihood and regulation of street vending) Act, 2014 had been implemented. A survey for identification of vendors has been completed in 78 local bodies and 81,383 vendors had been identified. The work to allot smart ID cards to vendors would be completed by August 15, 2018.
While installation of CCTV cameras had been completed in Panchkula and Karnal, the same was under progress in Sonepat, she said.
The minister added that the proposals were made for regularisation of 910 unauthorised colonies in which 506 colonies were found eligible as per rules and in principle an approval was given to 452 colonies.
ULB TO FLOAT BONDS
Jain also said that the state government was considering a proposal to allow the autonomous urban local bodies (ULBs) to float bonds to increase their revenue to provide extended facilities and amenities to the people.
Once the proposal was through, a system would be put in place to issue ULBs credit rating for better performance and they would be allowed to issue bonds on the basis of their rating, she said.