The State Govt. is quite aware of the fact that the Urban Local Bodies are saddled with financial burden for providing basic civic services like water supply, drainage, sewerage, conservancy and if this problem is not addressed immediately, in the near future the Urban Local Bodies may not be able to maintain the standard of these services. In this situation, the State Government is encouraging the Urban Local Bodies to realise preferably the whole or at least a part, of the operation and maintenance cost for different services from the beneficiaries excepting the urban poor.
In the Approach paper to 11th Five
Year Plan( 2007-2012) emphasis has been put on the
Financial Health of the Municipalities. A major
drive will be taken up during the Eleventh Plan period
to improve the financial health of the urban Local
Bodies. Augmentation of both Tax and Non Tax revenue
will be the focus. Switching over to the Unit Area based
property tax system shall be taken up in all ULBs in a
gradual manner. It will be attempted in Kolkata
Municipal Corporation area to begin with and will be
followed in other Urban Local Bodies in a phased manner.
Levy of user charges for
recovering Operation and Maintenance costs will be
introduced by the Urban Local Bodies. Objective shall be
to achieve full cost recovery by end of 11th Plan Period
while protecting the interest of the urban poor and
without subjecting them to any undue hardship. Private
sector management in Water supply and Solid Waste
Management will also be explored.
Better asset management by Urban
Local Bodies will be ensured and land will be used for
generating resources. Urban Local Bodies will be credit
rated so that they can access the capital market. To
support Urban Local Bodies in accessing market funds, a
West Bengal Municipal Development Fund will be created.
The State Government shall
endeavour to develop systems in the Urban Local Bodies
and Development Authorities which will ensure fiscal
discipline, transparency, and accountability. The main
initiatives contemplated are as follows:
Double Entry Accrual Based
Accounting: The West Bengal Municipal Act and
Rules has been amended to introduce double entry accrual
accounting in the Municipal Bodies. The Urban Local
Bodies in KMA have already switched over to the new
system. The rest of the ULBs are in the process of
switching over.
Municipal Accounts
Committee: All Urban Local Bodies will form a
Municipal Accounts Committee preferably chaired by the
leader of the opposition. The Committees will be
activated by building up their capacities and issuance
of guidelines. This will provide for financial oversight
to the Municipal activities.
Internal Audit:
Internal Audit system will be introduced in all
Municipal Bodies to bring about greater financial
discipline.
Accounts Statement:
Accounts Statements are being placed before Ward
Committees every six months. This will bring about
greater transparency and accountability.
E-governance: Urban
Local Bodies in KMA are moving to an e-governance system
for disposal of work. This will be operationalised
within the next two years. Other ULBs will also be taken
up. This is expected to lead to greater transparency.
Water supply
Universal primary education
Construction of dwelling houses and roads
Financial Support:
Programmes regarding water supply, universal primary education, construction of dwelling houses and roads and the like had been taken up under this scheme. From the financial year 1999-2000 the Central Government has discontinued this scheme. But considering the importance of the programmes of the scheme, the State Government has been sanctioning fund from their own budget for implementation of the scheme. Under this programme, a total sum of Rs.48.66 crore was received from the Central Government and Rs.47.31 crore has been released by the State Govt.
During the year 2006-07 Rs. 15 Crore has been released by the State Government to those Non-KMA towns which were not covered under UIDSSMT and IHSDP so far.
Projects like water supply, construction of dwelling houses, roads etc. for the SC/ST population residing in the urban areas had been taken up under this scheme. This fund is being utilised for various slum improvement programmes.
