Checking Ribbon Development Through a Bill adopted by the Punjab Vidhan Sabha on September 24 the State Government will be empowered to check unregulated development along the fringes of highways and around growing towns. Under the existing law the Government had power to regulate building activity within the municipal limits only.. The statement of objects specially mentioned the DelhiFaridabad sector as an instance of unregulated development. Fire Officer's Powers Under Rule 70 (6) of the Defence of India Rules, 1962, the Punjab Government has authorised the Fire Officer of Punjab to take over the administrative control of fire brigades in Moga, Amritsar, Batala, Gurdaspur, Pathankot, Sultanpur, Kulu, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur, Ludhiana, Ferozepore, Muktsar, Simla. Ambala, Patiala, Yamunanagar, Faridabad, Hissar, Rewari, and Mandi Dabwali. Amritsar Civic Reception Amritsar Municipal Committee gave a civic address on September 12 to Major General S. N. Bhatia, General Officer Commanding of Punjab and Hima hal Area Mr. Durga Das Bhatia presented the address. The Major General said he had accepted the address in the belief that it was intended to honour the jawans he represented. Rajpura Vice-President Dr. S. B. Lal Mittal was elected VicePresident of Rajpura Municipal Committee unanimously for the third term by the Municipal Committee Rajpura in its meeting on September 16. Rajasthan Civic Elections In January Municipal elections in Rajasthan are likely to take place during the first week of January. Mr, Govind Narain, President, Rajasthan Local Bodies Federation, said on September 21 that the elections in 58 municipalities, including that of Jaipur, which were controlled by administrators, will also be held at that time. By the end of February electione will be held in 11 more municipalities whose term would expire before that time. Displaced Persons Demonstrate Diaplaced persons residing in Jaipur demonstrated on September 19 before the Vidhan Sabha to attract the Government's -attention to the condition of their colonies Adarshnagar and Raja Park. Since 1957, no attempt has been made to maintain roads, public parks and open spaces in the two colonies. Street lighting and public water supply are inadequate. Sports Stadium Prime Minister Nehru has been requested to lay the foundation stone of a sports stadium in Jaipur during his visit to the city in the first week of November for the AICC session. The State Cabinet has decided to implement the scheme immediately. It will cost Rs. 25 Laks. Land for the stadium was given by the Maharaja of Jaipur. Civic Apathy Leads To Crime A retired sessions judge told the Police Advisory Committee, in Bikaner, on August 31, that apathy on the part of civic administration had brought about an increase in crime in Bikaner city. The muricipality had not instalied a single additional street light in the city during the last three years. This, he said, had encouraged criminals. Eve-teasing was also on the increase. It was disclosed in the meeting that flourescent lamps worth. Rs. 30,000 were lying unused in the civic body's godowns. Uttar Pradesh Civic Elections Elections to Municipal Boards, Notified Area and Town Area Committees are expected to be completed by June 6 next year. Polling for the election of Notified and Town Area Committees will be held on April 30 and for the Mu icipal Boards on May 27. Lucknow Walkouts Three walkouts were staged in protest against the ruling of Mayor Dr. P.D. Kapoor, at the meeting of Lucknow Corporation on September 4. The first to walk out were two Communist Councillors. Then the P. S. P. Councillor staged a walk out and the last walk-out was staged by the Congress and Independent Councillors in protest against the "fluctuating decisions" of the Mayor. Opposition To Auto-Rickshaws About 1,000 rickshaw pullers of Lucknow on September 4 protested against the Govern ment's decision to introduce auto-rickshaws in the city from September 16. There are nearly 7,000 licensed rickshaw pullers in Lucknow, and an equal number ply rickshaws in the night without a licence. Saving In Administration Cost Executive Committee of Lucknow Corporation, on September 13 abolished the posts of Executive Officer I and Executive Officer II, and created two posts of Assistant Executive Officers. This will lead to a saving of Rs. 37,000 annually. More D. A. For Civic Staff Allahabad Municipal Corporation on August 28 decided to give an additional 5 Rs. D. A. to its employees drawing upto Rs. 200 a month with effect from September 1. This will cost the Corporation Rs. 300,000 a year, and about 5,000 employees will benefit Tax On Bullock Carts A procession of cartmen and labourers. headed by one hundred, bullocks was taken out in Allahabad on September 12 to protest against the levy by the Corporation of a tax on bullock carts, buffaloes, horses, camels aud goats. Stray Dogs Of Varanasi Varanasi Municipal Corporation is to undertake a scheme estimated to cost Rs. 35,000 for dealing with the nuisance of stray dogs in the city. If implemented successfully the scheme would fetch the Corporation an income of Rs. 16,000. More Powers For Mayors Kanpur Municipal Corporation on Sep. tember 11 adopted a resolution suggesting to the Government to amend the Corporation Act so that the Mayor is elected by the general body of electors in the city for a five year term, and is vested with more powers than at present. A conference of Mayors and Deputy Mayors of the KAVAL towns in the State that have Municipal Corporations, held in Kanpur on September 23, also adopted a resolution favouring five year term for the Mayors. It was also demanded that the Mayors, in addition to being the Chairman of the Finance and Co-ordination Committee as proposed by the Government, should be vested with supervisory powers over the executive branch as also appellate powers over the Chief Executive Officer. Participants in the conference felt that at present the Chief Executive Officer could at his sweet will implement or reject the Corporation's resolutions. Corporation Fined Kanpur Municipal Corporation and its Central Tax Superintendent, Mr. Mewaram Bajpai, were fined by Mr. Justice Gyanendra Kumar at the Allahabad High Court, on Septembar 13, to pay Rs. 2,000 and Rs. 1,000 respectively for committing contempt of the court by acting in contravention of an interim injunction issued on July 14, 1961. By this order the court had directed the Corporation and its Chief Executive Officer not to issue fresh licences for plying rickshaws within the city limits. The contempt of court petition was filed by a rickshaw owner of Kanpur, Sardar Mohan Singh. West Bengal Durgapur Gas Chief Minister P. C. Sen, on Septembe 1, formally inaugurated the 108-mile DurgapurCalcutta gas grid, installed at a cost of Rs. 41.6 crores, which will carry to Calcutta the surplus coke oven gas from Durgagur. The project is a wholly West Bengal Government undertaking, sponsored by the late Dr. B. C. Roy, under an agreement with the Yugoslav Government. The gas pipeline and all equipment have been supplied by Yugoslavia on rupee payment. The three compressors installed at Durgapur can transmit about 15 million cubic feet of gas per day, but the capacity can be increased to 30 millon cubic feet by installing more compressors. The coke oven gas is being supplied to consumers in Calcutta since July 19. Joint Front Against Cholera Convinced that the inoculation drive alone, however intense it may be, cannot meet the challenge of yearly cholera epidemic in Calcutta, the West Bengal Government is endeavouring to co-ordinate all the agencies engaged in the development of the city and improvement of its sanitary and health conditions to provide a joint front against cholera- One of the first steps the State Government has taken to achieve this is to appoint a 14 member committee with Mr. S. B. Ray, Calcutta Corporation's Commissioner, as chairman. Its members include the CMPO Secretary, Calcutta Improvement Trust Chairman, Directors of Health Services and All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health, Secretary of the Indian Medical Association and Chief Engineers of Calcutta Corporation and Public Health Engineering, West Bengal. The committee, which is to report within two months, has been asked to suggest measures to prevent an outbreak of cholera epidemic in the city, prepare schemes on the inoculation programme, improvement of the potable water supply in bustees, arrangements for the disposal of night soil in unsewered areas, fly control, garbage and drainage clearance and intensive inspection of eating houses. The committee has been asked to give details of requirements-financial, manpower and equipment-of each scheme so that an integrated anti-cholera front can be developed. One of the reasons for such an approach is to enable the West Bengal Government to present a comprehensive scheme to the Union Government, which has always complained about the State's inability to fight cholera on all fronts on the basis of feasible short-term strategy. Commissioner- Councillors' Cold War The Staff Reporter of the Calcutta Statesman on September 30 reported: "Those acquainted with the ways and affairs of the Corporation feel inclined to believe that despite the Commissioner Mr. S..B Ray's desperate attemps to revitalise the organisation it is still functioning in the same old way. Constant opposition by a determined group of Councillors to his proposals to improve the system of work, to introduce discipline and to eradicate corruption seems to have created an atmosphere of depression in official circles. These Councillors who are connected with the Finance and other Standing Committees have, it is alleged, consistently tried to shelve the Commissioner's proposals to tone up the administration. They have sought to restrict the powers of the two Special Deputy Commissioners and to make it difficult for them to function affectively. The Councillors who have been waging a war against the Commissioner seem to be very much opposed to the infusion of fresh blood into the Corporation administration. In at least two key posts vacancies have been filled by departmental employees who were not considered sufficiently qualified by the Municipal Service Commission. In one case, the Commission, after examining the candidates concerned, suggested that the Corporation should provide higher salaries to attract suitable candidates for the posts, the municipality turned down the proposal. In the other case, to accommodate a Corporation officer the level of qualifications that were required to make a candidate eligible for a certain post was scaled down. There are instances when the Finance Committee on various pretexts has refused to take disciplinary action against corrupt officers despite the Commissioner's recommendations for such action. Some- time ago the Commissioner referred to the Finence Committee a proposal that Corporation employees should be asked to submit. yearly statements on their movable and immovable property. The Committee, after having sat over it for several months, has recently set up a committee to consider certain aspects of the proposal, Everybody in the Corporation knows that when the authorities want to shelve a scheme or kill time they form a sub-committee to study it. The Standing Committee's decisions sometime upset the working arrangements made by the Commissioner for different departments. Some senior officers feel that to enable them to function effectively a line of demarcation between policy-making and its execution must be drawn. Once a decision is taken its implementation should be left to the executive. This seems to be the only way to end the cold war, to tone up the administration, and to put a stop to what is known as the "corridor practice" in the Corporation. Planning Department Calcutta Corporation's Planning and Development Department, created about five years ago, has been given a new lease for another five years. This has become necessary as most of the department's work for the implementation of loan project especially under the Central Government's loan of Rs. 2.25 crores to agument water supply and improve sanitation is still under progress. The work should have finished by now. delay in implementation of the projects, a prominent councillor said, would cost the Corporation about Rs. 3 laks annually for another five years. Assistant Education Officer's Post The Stated to be created under the Netaji Subhas Bose-Muslim League agreement in 1940, the post of Culcutta Corporation's. Assistant Education Officer is regarded as an exceptional one. Its first incumbent was a member of the Muslim League. When he was elected to the Constituent Assembly six years later, the post was abolished. It was again revived when the Corporation was superseded. In November, 1962, the Standing Finance Committee recommended abolition of the post, after the lady who had held it, retire. The matter was referred to the Standing Education Committee which suggested that the post be permanently filled. When the proposal was placed before the Standing Finance Committee it recommended that since the Corporation would discontinue its teachers' training scheme, the services of the Principal of the Teachers training Institute might be utilised for the purpose. The matter is now before the Standing Education Committee for consideration. Employees' Demonstration Calcutta Corporation emplopees demonstrated outside the Central Municipal Building dearness allowance into their pay and advance on Septeinber 30 demanding the merger of of one month's wages for Durga Puja. At a meeting of joint committee of Corporation employees and workers' union it was decided to submit a charter of demands to the Mayor. The demands include 25 percent increase of Dearness Allowance and an ex gratia payment of one month's wages before the Puja to all employees drawing upto Rs. 500. Howarh Municipal Corporation It is understood the State Government may soon bring forward a Bill to upgrade Howarh Municipal Board to the status of a Municipal Corporation, and include Bally Municipal Board in the new Corporation. Howrah is the oldest Municipality of West Bengal. It administers an area of about 10 square miles and has a population of nearly 600,000. The annual revenue of the Howrah Municipal Board is Rs. 1.5 crores. Howrah Municipality was established in 1862, with the Divisional Commissioner as President and the District Magistrate as the Secretary. The Howrah Improvement Trust was created in 1957. According to a sample survey about 80 percent of the huts in Howrah have no arrangement for water supply and more than 15 percent have no latrines. Municipal Elections Arrangements for holding general elections to about 56 of the 88 Municipal Boards by March, 1964, are in progress. Preliminary electoral rolls have been published, and objections invited for the Municipalities. The elections to the remaining 32 Municipalities on the basis of adult franchise will be held early in 1965. |