HDMC sets up panel

HDMC sets up panel
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
9 Feb, 2007 0214hrs IST

HUBLI: The Hubli Dharwad Municipal Corporation has initiated the process of constituting citizen committees at polling booth level to prioritise implementation of strategies proposed in the city development strategy report.

The city development strategy report has been prepared by the HDMC as a blueprint for long-term development of the city for the next 20 years, which will also act as a basic document for development plans under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.

HDMC had commissioned the services of a consortium of Administrative Staff College of India and Ernst & Young to prepare the report. It was funded by Washington-based Cities Alliance, a World Bank affiliate.

To facilitate completion of the process of formation of citizen committees by February 18, the corporation has constituted a citizen advisory committee chaired by former Mangalore University vice-chancellor M I Savadatti. HDMC commissioner P Manivannan will be its co-chairman. Other members of the committee are D C Patil, Anand Pandurangi, Bharath Kkimji, K B Desai, S S Hasabi, Mohan Nagammanavar and Savithri Mahishi.

The citizen advisory committee will supervise the formation and functioning of citizen committees and zonal committees, which will be formed in all the 12 zones with one representative each from the citizen committees of the respective zone.

It will identify the activities of HDMC where citizen participation is essential and provide necessary guidance to working groups for three divisions of the city in drawing up and implementation of action plans to meet the goals of development. Each working group will be headed by the executive engineer of the respective division and will have three NGO representatives as members.

These working groups will assist the citizen advisory committee and the capacity-building agency in functioning of citizen committees.

After bringing about decentralisation in its administration and transparency in its functioning through e-governance, the HDMC is now attempting citizen participation in preparing development plans of their respective areas and monitoring of works undertaken.

If successful, it will curb the clout of councillors in the sanctioning of development works in their respective wards as this will then be decided by the zonal committees on the basis of inputs received from the citizen committees.

The citizen committee will be asked to prepare a monthly feedback of the respective wards and will be empowered to undertake internal checking of electoral, tax and other details. Along with zonal committees, they will also help create civic awareness.

Govt may allow airports on pvt land: Patel

Govt may allow airports on pvt land: Patel
BS Reporter / New Delhi February 6, 2007

To overcome hurdles in land acquisition for airport projects, the government is planning to allow private players to build airports on their own land.

“To increase connectivity, the government will set up merchant greenfield airports, which will be private airports built on privately owned lands, within permissible civil aviation parameters,” Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said.

This, he said, would solve the problem of land acquisition, which was a major hurdle to infrastructure projects in the country.

The Jindal group recently opened its Jindal Vijayanagar airport, that had been operating as a private airstrip since 1997, for commercial operations.

Apart from Air Deccan, which operates daily flights connecting Bangalore and Goa with Vijayanagar, Kingfisher Airlines has shown interest in operating flights connecting Mumbai, Hubli and Vijaynagar.

The civil aviation ministry is also negotiating with state governments to develop some of the 300 airstrips to provide better regional connectivity. The government, which is considering imposing a cess to fund economically unviable airports, is expecting investment of $50-70 billion in the sector in the next ten years.

“Due to the unprecedented growth in the civil aviation sector, we would need secondary airports in non-metro cities for the next 5-10 years. The aviation sector in India has the potential of growing by 25 per cent annually in the next ten years. In 2006 alone, the growth was 50 per cent. This has created the need for urgent and immediate growth in infrastructure,” Patel said. He added that public-private-partnerships can help build infrastructure in shortest possible time.

The government is also considering regulatory control over the civil aviation sector. The Bill for setting up an airport economic regulatory authority would be introduced in Parliament in the Budget session, he said. The authority is expected to be in place by the end of the year.

Patel said a proposal to hike foreign direct investment (FDI) cap in helicopter and sea-plane operations, charters, air-cargo and non-scheduled air operations and in maintenance, repair and overhaul facilities has been moved for Cabinet’s consideration.

Illegal connections pose hurdle

Illegal connections pose hurdle
M L Kapur - TIMES NEWS NETWORK
5 Feb, 2007 2336hrs IST

HUBLI: Nearly 1,000 illegal water connections in Hubli and Dharwad have become the main stumbling block in the timely commissioning of the 24x7 drinking water supply demonstration project in selected eight wards of the twin cities.

The World Bank-aided project was to have been completed by September last year. The deadline was extended till December following opposition to the project from a section of the target population in Dharwad. Many of them had illegal connections.

The Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation (KUIDFC) is implementing the Rs 237-crore project in select wards of Hubli-Dharwad, Belgaum and Gulbarga. It has now been rescheduled for commissioning by March-end this year.

Even as some 60-odd houses in Shakti Nagar and Madhura Park areas of Hubli are getting round-the-clock water supply up to the second floor for over a week now on an experimental basis, the illegal connections issue continues to dog the project the project officials.

KUIDFC chairman A K Agarwal reviewed the progress of the project on Monday. Dharwad regional deputy project director I M Prabhakar said those illegally tapping water from the main pipes in Hubli and Dharwad had been asked to regularise their water connections.

Project officials made it clear that only those having authorised Water Board connections would be offered the facility of 24x7 drinking water supply. According to a rough estimate, about 60% of connections in Pendar Oni and Kolikeri areas of Dharwad are illegal. A French multinational, CGE, has been awarded the contract to execute and operate the project for two years, and also design billing software, before handing it over to the respective local civic bodies, even though KUIDFC is the nodal agency for its implementation.

At the peak of opposition to the project in Dharwad on grounds that water charges would be hiked steeply,HDMC commissioner P Manivannan had given the residents the option to either retain the Water Board connection or go in for 24x7 supply. He had also promised to provide public taps in the demonstration wards.

However, project officials said that water supplied through the public taps will also be billed. "The only difference will be that that if HDMC installs public taps, it will pay the bill. The money will just move from one head of account to the other as revenue under the project ultimately goes to the civic body."

Meanwhile, the Dharwadbased Rural and Urban Development Association, the NGO whose functioning had come under severe criticism for its failure to create public awareness about the project, has been asked to motivate people to apply for connections under the 24x7 project.

HDMC poised to get ISO certification

HDMC poised to get ISO certification
MANU AIYAPPA - TIMES NEWS NETWORK
4 Feb, 2007 2233hrs IST

HUBLI: Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation has initiated measures to obtain the ISO 9001:2000 certification for its quality management systems that will put a stamp of excellence on its services provided to the citizens.

The corporation is inching towards this goal with the help of TUW, an international organisation for standardisation based in Netherlands.

If successful in this endeavour, the HDMC will be the first municipal corporation in the state to be awarded the certification and the third civic body in the country.

A three-member team of experts from TUW will start evaluating its services being rendered to the citizens from Monday. The civic body has been striving to improve its services. The HDMC has undergone a revolutionary change over the last two years for the purpose.

There has been significant transparency in the administrative activities, thanks to the successful initiation of egovernance. The attitude of the office staff has also transformed for the better. Unlike earlier, they are more eager and helpful now.

However, the biggest achievement of HDMC was the opening of Citizens’ Facilitation Centre (zonal offices) aimed at decentralising power and deliver timebound services.

The centres, which have cash counters, help desks and a complaints desk, resemble corporate office as far as ambience is concerned. They enable citizens to submit applications/ complaints, check the status of their letters, and receive vital and useful information related to HDMC besides other routine activities like getting birth/ death certificates, paying property tax and water bills.

Data mining and maintenance have all become easier now. One does not have to go through numerous large files for days to retrieve a single document. The 24x7 control room, started by HDMC for good governance, has also been effectively functioning with more than 90% redressal. A rather anxious HDMC commissioner P Manivannan said the members of the evaluation team should be impressed with the different system established by the HDMC to transact business with the citizens.

He said: “If they find any discrepancies, the evaluation team would give a month’s time to put all these systems into place. They will also advise us on the records to be maintained to obtain ISO 9001:2000.”

He said the team will submit their final report to their office within a month and the municipal corporation is likely to get the certification by March-end. However, Manivannan expressed confidence that HDMC will be able to get the certification though there is quite a lot of discrepancy between the goals of the quality policy and reality.