The 15th Finance Commission headed by Chairman, Shri N.K. Singh alongwith its Members and senior officials today met with the representatives of the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) of Uttar Pradesh today.
The Commision was informed that:
UP Municipal Corporation act 1959, UP Municipality Act 1916 are the act governing ULBs in the State. Out of 18 Functions to be devolved in terms of XII Schedule of the Constitution, only eight functions have been fully devolved. The State has set up a Property Tax Board as recommended by FC-XIII. The board is a functional body and gives opinion/recommendations on various issues connected to Urban Local Bodies Finances relating to strengthening of financial health of the Urban Local Bodies. Last elections of Municipal Corporation, Nagar Palika Parishad and Nagar Panchayat were held in between October and November 2017 In the State of UP there are 439 Municipal Boards, 198 Nagar Palika Parishads, and 16 Nagar Nigams. All Urban Local Bodies have been fully empowered to levy Property tax.
The XIV –FC Devolution to the State of UP:
Grants | All States(cr.) | Uttar Pradesh (cr.) | Grants to Uttar Pradesh as a % to Total Grants |
Basic Grant | 69715 | 8199 | 11.8% |
Performance Grant | 17429 | 2050 | 11.8% |
The Key Observations of 4th SFC were:
12.5% of the State’s tax and non-tax revenues net of cost of collection to be devolved. The distribution amongst RLB: ULB should be in the ratio of 40:60 The Commission recommended till the new SFC report comes after this 4th SFC, the Government can apply the recommendations of this SFC. The SFC observed that there was a lack of cooperation from the State government officials in releasing information to the Commission for organisation of data as required, and also there was undue administrative interference from the Government officials in the working of the Commission. The grants proposed for ULBs by the State Governments are stated below:
ULBs: Summary of Total Demands for the Development of Urban | ||
Infrastructural Services For period 2020-25 | ||
|
| In Rs Crores |
1 | Safe Drinking Water | 11347.6 |
2 | Sewerage & Sanitation | 143161.2 |
3 | Drainage | 25390.51 |
4 | Solid Waste Management | 7706.04 |
5 | Urban Transport & Traffic Management, MRTS/BRTS | 73982.18 |
6 | Municipal Road Development | 13637.5 |
7 | Street Lighting | 5295.72 |
| Total | 280520.75 |
Representatives of urban bodies include – Sh. Naveen Kumar Jain, Mayor, Municipal Corporation, Agra; Sh. Vinod Aggarwal, Mayor, Municipal Corporation, Muradabad; Smt. Ruksana, President, Municipal Council, Bijnor; Smt. Ruksana, President, Nagar Panchayat, Madiyahu Janpad, Jaunpur; Sh. Shyam Sundar Verma, President, Municipal Council Khalilabad, Santkabir Nagar; Smt. Gur Pyari Mehra, President, Nagar Panchayat, Dayal Bagh, Agra; Sh. Arun Singh, President, Nagar Panchayat Bakshi Ka Talab, Lucknow; Smt. Shefali Kunwar, President, Nagar Panchayat, Sarila, Hamirpur; Smt. Mamta Chaudhary, Councilor, Municipal Corporation, Lucknow; Sh. Rajeev Sharma, Councilor, Municipal Corporation, Ghaziabad; Sh. Arun Tiwari, Councilor, Municipal Corporation, Lucknow; Sh. Vinod Jaiswal, Member, Municipal Council, Khalilabad, Santkabir Nagar; Sh. Angad Vishvakarma, Member, Municipal Council, Khalilabad, Santkabir Nagar and Sh. Mohan Lal Chaurasia, member, Nagar Panchayat Madiyahu, Janpad Jaunpur.
Issues discussed included additional resources for development works and special civil works, for development of tourism, maintenance of infrastructure and heavy machinery, falling ground water levels and need for water recycling plants, greening of municipalities, shortage of administrative staff at municipality level, municipal taxes, better utilisation of municipal grounds, resources for earthing of electrical poles, putting in place underground sewers to widen roads.
The Commission noted all the concerns highlighted by the representatives of the ULBs and promised to address them in its recommendations to the Central Government.
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MC