HYDERABAD: The Andhra Pradesh Cabinet has taken a decision to accord ‘municipal corporation’ status to all those districts’ headquarters in the state, which do not enjoy it now.
Currently, there are about 13 municipal corporations in AP. They are Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Guntur, Nellore, Kurnool, Rajahmundry, Kakinada, Kadapa, Tirupati, Anantapur, Eluru, Ongole and Chittoor.
Briefing reporters after the Cabinet meeting, AP IT minister Palle Raghunatha Reddy said the cabinet had also decided to reduce the categories of municipalities in the State from the existing six to three.
As per the new decision, municipalities in the State would be divided into Grade-III, Grade-I&II and Special selection Grade, he said.
According to him, work sanctioning power of Grade-III municipal commissioner was enhanced from `5,000 to `50,000 and Work Committees’ up to `1 lakh. Similarly, Grade-I&II municipal commissioner’s sanctioning power was increased to `10,000 to `l lakh and Work Committees’ from `29,000 to `5 lakh and Special selection Grade commissioners’ sanctioning power was made up to `10 lakh.
Henceforth, all the municipal corporations would be headed by IAS officers and municipality by Group-I officers, Raghunatha Reddy said.
Reddy said municipal staff would henceforth undertake field visits everyday till 2 pm and attend offices thereafter. “This would help the officials to attend the burning problems in their respective municipalities,” he added.
Neeru-Chettu Programme on Feb 19
Chief minister Naidu will launch Neeru-Chettu programme at Tambalapalli village in Chittoor district on February 19. People’s representatives and party leaders would launch the programme in their respective districts across the State on the same day. The programme is aimed at conserving water and saving trees in all districts.