Minister for Housing & Urban Development (HUDD) Sat Sharma today chaired a meeting to review the functioning of Urban Local Bodies.Financial Commissioner, Housing & Urban Development Department, K.B Agarwal, Director, Urban Local Bodies (ULB), Sushma Chauhan, CEO, EOs of all Municipal Councils and Committees of Jammu province were present in the meeting.The Minister reviewed the status of recently initiated outsourced service of door-to-door collection of solid waste in Katra, Udhampur, Samba and Kathua. He directed the concerned to extend this initiative of DULB to maximum number of towns in the region.The Minister was informed that the tenders related to setting up of waste treatment plants at Katra and Udhampur clusters have been closed successfully with selection of two companies for the same. A total viability Gap Funding of Rs 8 crore for both the projects shall be provided to the developers.It was further informed that tendering for setting up of treatment plants in Kathua and Samba is already in progress while as the process would be started for Doda and Bhaderwah next week.Emphasizing on performance-based evaluation of all key departmental functionaries, the Minister instructed that all MCs shall strive hard to attain self- sufficiency through widening of their revenue generation avenues to pave way for development of towns on modern lines.
Taking note of necessity of septage management in MCs, the Minister directed for setting up of one septage treatment plant at every MC whereby this model could be adopted for rest of remaining ULBs. He encouraged them to put in extra efforts to get 36 ULBs declared ODF ending this month.arlier, Director ULB informed the meeting about the overall functioning, roles and responsibilities of the department and 36 ULBs functioning thereunder. She further apprised the Minister about the key services provided by ULB to the citizens and informed about the programme under which citizen friendly and effective measures shall be implemented for enhancing service level efficiency and accountability through IT intervention.She further informed that the department has made rapid strides for implementation of Swachh Bharat Mission, objectives related to Solid Waste Management and achieving Open Defecation Free status for all 36 ULBs in Jammu province.She stated that in order to achieve Open Defecation Free status for ULBs in Jammu province, the ULBs have been divided into three categories based on the completion of construction of toilets under Swachh Bharat Mission.A team from Quality Council of India is already in state, visiting various ULBs for assessment of ODF status which has accessed six ULBs till date.