Excelsior Correspondent
KATHUA, Mar 22: Though people in twin districts of Kathua and Samba since a long time have been pressing hard for bringing more townships under the municipal committees but no headway has been made in this regard till date as the Government is undecided over the issue yet.
According to sources, people of the various towns of Samba and Kathua districts including Ghagwal, Chadwal, Mahanpur, Dayala Chak, Ramkot, Gurah, Rajpora and Bani towns are pressing hard for according the status of municipal committees to these towns so that a self governance system can be evolved there too but the Government has not taken any cognizance of the same and it appears the issue has been put in cold storage.
Sources said all these towns fulfill the criteria of according them the status of the municipal committees for their overall development and progress as these townships will get proper civic amenities like construction of lanes and drains with better drinking water and electricity facilities and opening of Government offices etc but it seems that there are no takers of the demand.
On the persistent demand of the people, the district administration had already submitted the proposal to Government for the grant of Municipal Committee status to Bani town in Kathua district which falls in the criteria fixed by Government for bringing new towns under Municipal committees. The Bani town also falls in the category of tourist as well as pilgrimage tourist place and its population is also more than 10,000.
The District Development Commissioner Kathua, O P Bhagat when contacted said that the proposal for Bani to be given the Municipal Committee status has already been submitted to concerned quarters.
Not only Bani but Mahanpur, Ramkote , Gujru Nagrota, Mareen and Dayala Chak towns in Kathua district also qualify for grant of Municipal Committee status while Ghagwal, Rajpora and Gurah in Samba district also fall in the qualifying status of Municipal Committees. Some of these towns are famous as pilgrimage tourism centers but why the Government has not considered them is not known, source said.
Col (retd) Mohan Singh, chairman District Development Committee (DDC), Kathua while strongly advocating for grant of municipal status to some of the towns in the district said that Ramkot, Gujru Nagrota, Mahanpur, Dayala Chak and Mareen deserve to be accorded status of Municipal Committees as they fill up the criteria fixed for the same. These towns should be accorded the status of MCs without further delay for their overall development and bettering the civic amenities, he added.
Same were the views of Keshaw Dutt Sharma, DDC chairman, Samba who also strongly supported the demand for grant of Municipal status to Ghagwal, Rajpura and Gurah townships.
He said these towns fully qualify for grant of the municipal status as Rajpura, Ghagwal and Gurah are old towns in the district hence there should be no delay in according the Municipal Committee status to them.
As per the Municipal Act 2004 any town having a population of 5000 or more or is a tourist place or pilgrimage centre can qualify for grant of municipal Committee status. In this regard a notification is issue by the Government but the process takes some time. However some towns for whom the demand has been made have even surpassed the population of 10,000.
The people of these towns have also given many representations to the Government in this regard from time to time but to no avail, said Madan Lal of Mahanpur Kathua who said that the Mahanpur which has crossed the population of 10,000 deserves to be included in MC Act but it is not known why the Government has nor considered the demand.
Dr Ravi Shanker, Additional Secretary, Housing and Urban Development told Excelsior that when the demand comes from people the Government examines it to see whether it falls in the criteria of 2004 Act or not. The demand comes from the people but the basic criteria for the same has to be followed. After the demand comes form the people and the basic criteria for grant of Municipal Committee status is fulfilled then the notification is issued by the Government for the inclusion of the town in Municipal Committee but this process takes some time, he added.
He however said no proposal is pending before the Government regarding grant of municipal committee status to the towns.
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