Govt does not interfere in the Municipal Council affairs in Tripura – Dr. Prafullo Jit Sinha

AGARTALA, March 21: The government does not interfere in the various schemes and programmes undertaken by the Municipal Councils in Tripura.This was stated by Dr. Prafullo Jit Sinhana, Chairperson of Agartala Municipal corporation (AMC) who went on to add that when the Municipal Council takes up a work program, no program is taken up without the knowledge of the ward development committee.

Briefing the Manipuri media persons of AMWJU, Dr. Prafulo Jit Sinhana, Chairperson of Municipal corporation who is one of  Manipuris settled in Tripura said that Agartala Municipal Council has 35 councillors including 3 nominees. The main resource of Municipal Corporation are the various taxes being collected.

"The corporation can collect from Rs. 13 Lakhs to 13.5 lakhs in a year. The amount collected by the corporation mainly as property tax, household tax  is the resource of the corporation," he said. One system  in Tripura different from that of Manipur that  the AMWJU members got to learn was that permission has to be sought from the corporation if a house or building is to be constructed within the purview of Agartala Municipal Corporation. There is a separate bye law for this. After a house is constructed, 7% of the value of the building is to be paid to AMC as tax. Of 7%, 3% is for building land, 3% for garbage cleaning and 1% for electric tax. It is besides the revenue tax. Apart from it, water tax is Rs. 30 in a month.

The corporation collects tax from the sellers at the market. All together 13.5 crores can be collected as tax annually.

At present there is a ward development committee comprising of 13 members under AMC. They are appointed by councilors and are not elected by the people through elections. When a program is taken up, it cannot be implemented without the permission of the ward development committee though the necessary documents are with the councilor himself.

Various schemes of the government are taken up after being entrusted with the municipal corporation. Rs 125 crores are in the budget annually and efforts are on to increase the amount. The council has 600 employees and around 1300 workers. However the share of tax available when the government takes up the scheme goes to the government and is returned to AMC.

The municipal corporation has been taking up public schemes. City dwellers below the poverty line within the purview of AMC are given jobs under Tripura Urban Development programme similar to MGNREGS scheme. Families below poverty line under 15 Nagar Panchayats were provided with fifty – day jobs.

The target is to provide jobs for 70 days in a year. There are about 24,000 job card holders in the city under the government sponsored scheme.

Around 2,50,000 families who are ration card holders below poverty line are provided with rice at Rs, 2 per month in the state. Those families which are not ration card holders below the poverty line are provided with 22 KGs at Rs 6.25 per K.G. The municipal council makes the public aware of the programmes being undertaken in the villages and makes the village committee or panchayat sammittee monitor them.

It is reflected that the government empowers AMC. When a program is taken up, AMC implements it following discussion with the government. However the Chief Minister looks after all the programs every three months and the Urban development minister very often.  He continued that the officers are not made to be indulged in malpractices as detailed information is taken from the field level workers when development works are taken up.