JAIPUR: Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma has told the state's newly elected mayors and civic body heads to finish basic works in their cities within a month, before Diwali, as the first step of a 100-day action plan for urban local bodies.
Sharma spoke to mayors and deputy mayors of municipal corporations and to the chairpersons, vice-chairpersons, presidents and vice-presidents of municipal councils and municipalities by video conference on Monday, October 5, according to IANS copy carried by Social News XYZ and the Udaipur Times.
The Chief Minister directed that work on cleanliness and waste management, road repairs, electricity and street lighting, sewerage and drains, and painting and beautification be completed "within one month, before Diwali". He asked the civic bodies to deal with sanitation, waterlogging, stray animals, encroachments and the upkeep of parks through local coordination and regular field visits by officials.
"Development should not remain confined to planning and paperwork," Sharma said, adding that its benefits must reach ordinary citizens.
Ahead of the meeting he said that "the vision of a developed Rajasthan can be realised only through developed cities" and that "urban local bodies would be transformed through a 100-day action plan based on a comprehensive roadmap", according to ANI copy carried by LatestLY. He told the new representatives that they "have an important responsibility to fulfil the expectations of the people."
The roadmap covers roads, drinking water, street lighting, traffic management and parks, and the delivery of Central and state government schemes, the Udaipur Times reported.
The schemes the Chief Minister referred to included the Swachh Bharat Mission, the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban), AMRUT and the Smart Cities Mission, a 125-day employment programme for unskilled workers in urban areas, faecal sludge treatment plants across 188 urban bodies with free de-sludging services, and a "Developed Ward Campaign" for planned development across each city, according to the IANS report.
Urban Development Minister Jhabar Singh Kharra, Chief Secretary V. Srinivas and the mayors of municipal corporations attended the meeting, while other civic heads joined by video. On Sunday, October 4, Sharma held a preparatory meeting at his residence with Srinivas, Additional Chief Secretary Akhil Arora and Additional Chief Secretary for Urban Development Alok Gupta, ANI reported.
The civic heads were chosen in the urban local body elections held last month. In Jaipur, councillor results were declared on September 15 and the mayor was elected on September 25, India TV reported.
The BJP won the mayor's posts in Jaipur, Jodhpur and Kota. In Jaipur, Sunil Kothari, the councillor from Ward 112, won 89 votes in the 150-member corporation, where 76 is the majority mark, and defeated the Congress's Sunita Mawar. In Jodhpur, Prasann Chand Mehta won by 53 votes to 47 in the 100-member corporation, the narrowest of the three margins, and in Kota, Anusuiya Goswami won by 65 to 35, India TV reported. The Jaipur corporation election, held across 150 wards, had about 24.33 lakh registered voters and a turnout of about 63.55 per cent.
The Jaipur vote was contested. Congress MLAs Rafiq Khan and Amin Kagzi staged a sit-in outside the corporation office, alleging that some of the party's councillors were prevented from entering the voting area, and Khan demanded that CCTV recordings be reviewed, Punjab Kesari reported. The Jaipur corporation has 78 BJP councillors, 57 from the Congress and 15 independents, according to the same report, and its deputy mayor was to be elected on September 26.
