Haryana considering proposal to allow urban local bodies to float bonds

The Haryana government is considering a proposal to allow autonomous urban local bodies (ULBs) to float bonds to increase their revenue so that they can provide extended facilities to people, State Minister Kavita Jain said here today. Once the proposal is 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, the Urban Local Bodies Minister said.

Jain added that a proposal has been made for regularisation of 910 unauthorised colonies in which 506 colonies were found eligible as per rules, and in principle approval has been given to 452 colonies and 76 colonies have been notified.

From the standpoint of cleanliness, Karnal and Rohtak rank among the top 100 cities in Swachhta Survekshan 2018 and Gharaunda received first prize in the 'Innovative Idea' category, she said.

Jain said during its close to four-year tenure, the BJP government in the state had allocated budget amounting to Rs 15,828.39 crore to municipalities, out of which Rs 9,780.84 crore had already been released.

She said waste management plants would be established for strengthening power management and provision has been made to generate 32 MW power every day from 2,000 tonnes of waste.

Work on waste management plants in Gurugram-Faridabad and Sonepat-Panipat clusters is under progress. Tenders have been floated for six clusters and work would soon start on them, she added.

The minister said the present state government is conscious about the environment and in this direction, 532 parks had been constructed at a cost of Rs 66 crore.

It has been decided to develop parks in 50 local bodies under the Swarna Jayanti Pariyojana. Under AMRUT Scheme, 80 parks would be developed especially for children.

She said the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014 has been implemented under the National Urban Livelihood Mission. An agency has been given the work to conduct survey for identification of vendors. The survey work has been completed in 78 local bodies and 81,383 vendors have been identified, she said.

Further detailing the works undertaken by her department, Jain said 9,269 community and public toilets had been constructed in the state. Apart from this, target has been set to construct toilets in 71,000 houses, out of which 53,641 toilets have been constructed and work on the remaining would soon be completed.

All community and public toilets have been linked with Google Maps, she said.

She said that work on installation of CCTV cameras in municipalities is under progress, and it has been completed in Panchkula and Karnal.

The minister said the state government has been providing e-services to put a check on corruption. As many as 43 services of ULBs were being provided online through Saral portal and 17 more services would soon be made online, she added.