I will stop the migration of Bihari labourers. In future, nobody will go to other states at least to fulfill the requirement of bread and butter: CM - report of Satish K Singh Now, every road of Bihar goes towards development. In every sector process of transformation is going on. Face of Bihar is changing rapidly. Citizens of Bihar are presently daring to think about daydream. You just look at some of the latest developments which are spreading its wings all over Bihar. The Nitish govt is going to provide over 24,000 dwellings to the urban poor in the ten towns of the state soon. The basic services for urban poor (BSUP) scheme under JNNURM envisages provision of 14,592 dwelling units with amenities, including light and clean environment for the urban poor. The units will be constructed in cooperation with the Centre, the state govt and Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC). Urban Development Minister Ashwini Kumar Chaubey on Feb 11 launched the first phase of the project at Mundichak in Bhagalpur. The project will be launched at Jagdeopath in Patna soon. Hudco will construct 12,596 units at an estimated cost of Rs 313 crore in Patna agglomeration area including Patna, Phulwarisharif, Danapur and Khagaul. Another 2000 housing units will be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 54 crore at Bodh Gaya. Raj Bhavan will soon adopt 1000 children of Musahar community in Bhojpur and Bhagalpur dist for imparting education to them in the nearest schools and colleges besides providing them food and clothes. These children will be educated under the supervision of the universities located in those areas localities while some NGOs would extend help in different forms. People of Bihar irrespective of age and profession would soon get an opportunity to express their innovative ideas and highlight researches at five day festival to be organized in Patna University. Aimed at developing a: Discovery Park: in the state, the creativity festival would be open to all-from school teachers, professionals of organized and unorganized sectors, farmers, technicians and scientists who want to bring to light their works and ideas in different fields. Cultural programme between Bihar and Mauritius has ended recently. PM of Mauritius Navin Ramgoolam had come to Bihar for this purpose. Basically he belongs to Bihar. Now, Navin is also ready to invest a lot of money for the development of industries in Bihar. A few days ago, NRIs meet was organised at Shri Krishna Memorial Hall, Patna. A number of NRIs want to invest in Bihar. Recently, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar said, I will stop the migration of Biharis labours. In future, nobody will go to other states at least to fulfill the requirement of bread and butter. The 40-year-old Lok Sabha member from Madhepura, Pappu Yadav symbolized money and brute muscle power got life term for Ajit Sarkar murder case. The special court awarded the same sentence to a former MLA from Govindganj in East Champaran district, Rajan Tiwari and history-sheeter Anil Yadav for the killing in Purnea. With the signing of an agreement between the NTPC and BSEB on Feb 14 for the Bihar Bijli Company, Nabinagar, the process for establishment of 1980 MW thermal power plant in Aurangabad district has begun. The bipartite agreement for the super project with an estimated cost of 9,000 crore was signed in the presence of CM Nitish Kumar and NTPC Chairman-Cum-MD T Sankarlingam and energy minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav. Announcement of opening of new Medical, Engineering, Agriculture and ITI colleges/institutes are signs of change in Bihar. Opening of new ordnance factory at Rajgir in Nalanda district, renovation of sugar mills in north Bihar and renovation of all closed industries are also indications of transformation taking place in Bihar. Perhaps due to this, the Bihar govt's thrust on reforms and good governance has been appreciated by the World Bank and ADB, which promised the CM to extend financial assistance in terms of loans and grants in the sectors of road construction, power, Panchayati Raj institutions and tourism. The state govt has sought assistance for construction of Panchayat Bhavans in all 8712 gram panchayats to strengthen the panchayati raj instiutions. The govt also asked for monetary support from the JVIC to build an expressway between Patna, Gaya and also develop tourist spots coming under the Buddhist circuit. In this connection Nitish has demanded enough funds from the Centre for the all-round development of Bihar. With a view to link 10,000 inaccessible villages with roads in the state by March 2009, the government has strengthened the Rural Development Department by transferring under it several circles and divisions from other depts. In fact Bihar has a vast reservoir of talent and there was need for their exposure. If this pace of reforms is carried in the near future too, undoubtedly Bihar will be richest state of the country once again.

PIPED drinking water of good quality may be a dream for many of India's citizens but not for those in Guntur. Here 85 per cent of the people get treated water in abundance at their doorsteps. It is probably one of the few cities in the country that has multiple sources of water that could be tapped in emergencies. Though the city is deficient in groundwater, its residents do not feel the pinch thanks to the Guntur Municipal Corporation (GMC), which supplies water from sources situated in the north-eastern part of the city. "A major quantum of raw water, however, comes from the Krishna through canals [especially the Guntur Channel] and the Sangam Jagarlamudi filtration plant,' says Municipal Commissioner Siddhartha Jain. Equitable, round-the-clock distribution of quality water is the ultimate goal of the GMC. In order to make the city water-surplus by 2036, the GMC plans to reduce consumption of power needed to lift water from the source and deliver it at the customer's doorstep, augment new sources of raw water, carry out complete lining of the Guntur Channel and reduce wastage by taking a zonal approach to distribution. The project, visualised by GKW Consultants under the Central government's Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns (UIDSSMT), will cost the GMC Rs.200 crore. More than half the city's population gets free drinking water. Despite this, the GMC is able to meet its operation and maintenance (O&M) costs. For 90,000 property tax assessments, there are only 50,000 individual tap connections; 5,750 of these have been given to the poor at Rs.1,200 a connection and the remaining are public taps. A second filtration plant with a capacity of 45 million litres a day, which was set up recently at Thakellapadu on the city's outskirts, has helped the corporation filter water effectively from the Guntur Channel; this acts as a standby for the existing plant. A second water pipeline that would carry an additional 10 million gallons a day (MGD) of raw water from the Guntur Channel is to be set up soon. Rationalising water charges and metering water consumption are the long-term plans of the corporation to meet future O&M costs. Currently it collects Rs.4 crore annually as water cess from the 50,000 customers, including 1,700 commercial and bulk water users, who get metered supply. The steps taken by Mayor Kanna Nagaraju to have the Sangam Jagarlamudi plant and storage tanks cleaned and modernised has enabled the GMC stabilise its inflow and save crores of rupees. Checking leakages and improving services are not possible without the involvement of the stakeholders. The Municipal Commissioner proposes to hold regular meetings of customers under each local reservoir where minor, day-to-day problems could be sorted out. Water audit at each reservoir has improved the accountability of the engineering staff and the public. Under the audit, the GMC measures the outflow of water every hour and the total real consumption/receipt in the area it serves at the citizen's point. A modern gas equipment has been installed at reservoirs to improve water chlorination and ensure the right quantum of chlorine when it reaches the consumer.

The Guntur Municipal Corporation leaves no stone unturned to ensure the city's all-round growth. THE Municipal Corporation of Guntur dreams big for the residents of the city, which has a more than 200-year-old history. It has achieved many firsts in its relatively brief existence of less than 20 years. The young corporation also has the youngest Mayor in the country, 23-year-old Kanna Nagaraju. The 52-member Municipal Council is guided by the young dynamic Municipal Commissioner Siddhartha Jain. Guntur means the village of tanks. It is believed that this village first came up close to what is known as the Red Tank. The French held Kondaveedu, a nearby village, from A.D. 1732 and built a fort to the east of the area now known as Old Guntur. The French commander constructed houses for himself and for his troopers towards the north of present-day Nallacheruvu (Black Tank) and this area was called New Guntur. One of the fastest developing Tier-III cities in Andhra Pradesh, Guntur has pride of place among municipal corporations in the State. A vibrant city, home to some of the wealthiest traders in cotton, chillis and tobacco, Guntur has fast metamorphosed into a modern city with an array of glittering shopping malls, restaurants and commercial complexes dotting the skyline. Providing basic civic amenities to a growing city with a population of over seven lakh has been a demanding task for the local body. It, however, has achieved many firsts, and dreams of providing 24-hour water supply to domestic and industrial consumers and meet the needs of the industrial corridor that is fast coming up between Vijayawada and Guntur. The corridor is expected to convert these into major Twin Cities of Andhra Pradesh after Hyderabad and Secunderabad. The GMC has achieved remarkable progress in augmenting basic amenities such as drinking water supply, sanitation, street lighting and solid waste management. It also has an efficient system in place to redress public grievances. "The GMC is highly responsive to civic problems and innovative in toning up its administrative machinery,' said District Collector Mohammad Ali Rafath. SANITATION A series of special drives has been launched by the Municipal Commissioner to augment the quality of basic services such as sanitation. The three-bin system has become a reality in many apartment complexes in the city and garbage clearance is 100 per cent. A week-long special sanitation drive in the city identified several issues, and short-term and long-term plans have been envisaged to solve them. For solid waste management, the GMC got a grant of Rs.1.26 crore from the Twelfth Finance Commission, which was spent on procuring dumper bins and tricycles. Today local residents' welfare associations take care of 50 per cent of the house-to-house garbage collection system. The use of coloured plastic bins for waste segregation at source has been introduced in some commercial areas too. Seventy-six acres of land was recently acquired in Yedlapadu mandal for dumping waste. Works such as construction of drains, laying of roads, improvement of road junctions and development of burial grounds were taken up at a cost of Rs.24 crore. Siddhartha Jain said: "People should be proud of the city they live in and be motivated to be part of the planned development. A systematic approach to administration and planning is the need of the hour. Special drives to improve sanitation and provide water supply connections will help in identifying several issues.' MEDICAL CAMP Mayor Kanna Nagaraju. At 23, he is the youngest Mayor in India. The municipal body is going beyond its principal mandate of providing basic amenities to the people; the GMC organises mega medical camps. The camps held on the Sri Patibandla Sitaramaiah High School grounds in December every year witnesses a huge turnout. The latest camp attracted more than 15,000 people. A team of 85 doctors from 20 specialisations attended to 13,400 patients. Medicines costing Rs.8.4 lakh were distributed. As many as 180 paramedical staff, students of nursing colleges and 370 cadets of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) volunteered their services. The success of the camp motivated some private hospitals and clinics to offer follow-up medical service for the patients. They would be treated for a month at a hospital of their choice. One of the most daunting tasks for the corporation is to ensure potable drinking water for the entire city. Guntur, which does not have a raw water source, depends on the Guntur Channel and the Buckingham Channel to supply 80 million litres per day (MLD) against the total ideal assessed demand of 121 MLD. The centuries-old water source at Sangam Jagarlamudi has been renovated thanks to the special interest shown by the Mayor. A water filtration plant of 10 million gallons per day has been commissioned and four reservoirs have been built at L.B. Nagar, Srinivasarao Thota, R.T.C. Colony and Stambalagaruvu. Rise in rEVENUE The corporation saw a turnaround in its finances with a near 100 per cent collection of tax and non-tax revenue from individuals and commercial establishments. Innovative steps taken by Deputy Commissioner N. Yadagiri Rao to boost revenue collection have yielded results; of the total 1.14 lakh assessments, 941 were new assessments. The revenue wing has been trifurcated

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi has recorded ten new cases of Meningococcemia in the Capital, taking the total number of persons who have contracted the disease to 94 since January this year, officials said. Three cases have been reported from north Delhi zone, two from Shahdara south, one from Connaught Place and one each from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, MCD's Health department officials said. The disease has claimed 11 lives so far, out of which four were reported from the Capital, while seven were from the neighbouring states of UP and Haryana. However, MCD Health Officer N K Yadav said there was no need to panic and that the number of cases reported this year was lesser than the corresponding period last year. In 2007, 129 cases of meningococcemia were reported while in 2006, more than 200 such cases were reported. "

You would soon forget about the men handing out small slips every time you take your vehicle to a municipal parking slot. If the Municipal Corporation of Delhi has its way, you would instead pay a lump sum and get an annual parking token. And you can use a parking lot under MCD jurisdiction for as many times as you wish for the course of the year. The proposal was mooted at a meeting of the MCD's remunerative projects cell on Tuesday. A concept paper is expected to be presented in a few days. Leader of the House Subhash Arya told Newsline that a concept paper on the plan would be brought out soon. "The system will be totally computerised,' he said. "This will be an effective strategy against unauthorised parking lots. The cost of the yearly token will be Rs 1,000 for two-wheelers and Rs 2,000 for cars.' The coupon would enable one to use any MCD parking lot for the whole year, Arya said. "The token will be renewed at the end of each year.' For the MCD, the benefit comes in that the scheme will raise its coffers withy earnings by doing away with unauthorised parking slots, Arya said. For Delhiites, it would mean a relief from "errant parking contractors', known to charge at their whims, he said. At present, even parking for a few minutes entails paying the minimum fare

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), it seems, is spending most of its time devising new plans every month to handle parking in the city instead of solving the problem. This time it has more to to add to the further chaos. After parking was decentralised zone-wise few months back to keep a better check on parking mafia, the civic body is again centralising the payment, tendering and collection of parking fees. Remunerative Project Cell (RP)

Calcutta is to have a "detailed, scientific plan' to combat the effects of climate changes, courtesy a World Bank initiative. A three-member team from the bank was in town recently to kick off the project, which will use a simulated model to predict Calcutta's vulnerability to climate changes till 2050 and prepare a survival roadmap. "Calcutta is among the 10 cities in the world that are most vulnerable to climate changes. The Bengal government has okayed a World Bank proposal to launch an initiative to predict the changes,' said state environment secretary K.L. Meena.

Chandigarh, February 12 The councillors of Municipal Corporation Chandigarh have decided to review the draft budget estimates for the year 2008-09. A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of Finance and Contract Committee on Tuesday. While some members claimed that no decision over the draft budget estimates was taken in the meeting, Mayor Pardeep Chhabra maintained that the budget has been approved and referred to MC House.

Pakistan has a three-tier local government structure since 2001.