Centre of Urban Excellence to come up in city soon

Hyderabad: The State government will establish Centre of Urban Excellence for the benefit of municipal officials and also elected public representatives.

This was announced by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao during the discussion on the Municipal Act in Assembly on Friday.

The Chief Minister said the Centre of Urban Excellence would be coming up in the city in an area of 20 to 25 acres land. The elected public representatives should get trained and there will be regular interaction between the municipal officials and the public representatives.

The Chief Minister suggested the officials and also the people who are willing to contest municipal elections to first read the Act. "This Act was deliberately brought before elections because we wanted all to know about the rules.

The people who want to contest municipal elections should read this Act first. If they feel bad afterwards, we can't do anything," he said. There should be accountability and transparency in the administration.

The public representatives should do the work which they are assigned, the Chief Minister added.The Chief Minister said the municipalities should have 10 per cent funds for green cover.

The municipalities should pay off the dues such as power bills, water bills and also the loans if there are any. He said the government's intention is capacity building and not to have authority on the public representatives.

Replying to MIM member Jafar Hussain, the Chief Minister said the government would make sure the people are not subjected to harassment over property tax.

He assured to arrange a meeting of the city MLAs. He said people will listen in only two ways either there should be fear or dedication.

The municipalities were not functioning as per the aspirations of the people hence the new Municipal Act was brought, he added.