Khattar for self-reliant MCs

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 18

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has set a target of complete financial self-reliance for all 10 municipal corporations in the state.

He has stressed the significance of municipal corporations as units of local self-government and shared his vision of transforming these into financially viable and professional bodies.

The Chief Minister was presiding over a meeting with Mayors and Municipal Commissioners here today. During the meeting, they presented their respective plans to the Chief Minister for increasing their income and curtailing expenditure.

The Department of Urban Local Bodies made a presentation on the way forward towards achieving efficiency through increased used of information technology and decentralisation of various financial and administrative powers.

The Chief Minister launched two online services — water and sewer connection and billing system and change of land use (CLU) system, which would streamline the process of approval of CLUs and sanction of water and sewerage connections as well as bill generation and receipt collection.

The Chief Minister discussed at length various strategies to recover arrears, especially those of property tax and water and sewerage bills.

He directed the department to come up with one-time settlement schemes to encourage citizens to deposit their arrears. He also insisted on timely and hassle-free delivery of services to citizens.

The Chief Minister said the state government had already announced that the year 2020 would be observed as “Susashan Sankalp Varsh” and fair and prompt delivery of services to the public was only possible through e-governance.

He said making water and sewer billing system and CLU system online would not only bring transparency, but help in reducing corruption as well.