Jammu Municipal Corporation overhauled

Jammu, May 5: To make the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) more efficient, effective and focused in its operations, the Administrative Council (AC) which met here under the chairmanship of the Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, approved the proposal of Housing and Urban Development Department to reorganize the Corporation.
Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, Advisor to the Lieutenant Governor, Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief Secretary, J&K and Nitishwar Kumar, Principal Secretary to the Lieutenant Governor attended the meeting.
The decision has been taken in consideration of the fact that JMC has grown from an initial number of 23 wards covering an area of 32 sq. km to 71 wards spread over 112 sq. km, without any corresponding increase in its manpower or infrastructure. Currently, against the total sanctioned strength of 2623 posts, 1540 regular employees are in position, whereas 1741 workers have been outsourced with additional 724 on casual/ contractual arrangement. The annual expenditure incurred by JMC on this account is Rs. 106.81 crore.
Post reorganization, the Jammu Municipal Corporation will have dedicated wings for administration, revenue, health & sanitation, solid waste management, building, accounts & planning, legal, veterinary, transport, informatics, engineering, floriculture and miscellaneous activities.
Accordingly, some positions will be outsourced with the twin objective of hiring the staff as per requirement without much stress on the resources and ensuring association of technical experts with the Corporation.
Further, to provide fillip to the agency’s revenue generation towards establishing a self-sustainable model of local governance, JMC will also be able to levy Property Tax; revise building permission fee; revise rent in respect of shops, open spaces and buildings; rationalize existing fleet/ vehicles; auction materials; levy charges in respect of water filling; collect tower fee; enhance compounding fee in respect of impounded items and goods, among others.
The Administrative Council also approved an additional financial grant of Rs 3.26 crore per annum for optimal functioning of the Jammu Municipal Corporation.