Font Size 
Jamshedpur on a renewal mission
Published on Wed, Sep 06, 2006 at 19:34 in Business section
Tags: Jharkhand, Tata Steel , Jamshedpur
Jamshedpur: The Opposition-ruled Jharkhand government is in crisis, and the ruling alliance at the Centre is clearly not unhappy about it. This may not unwelcome news for Tata Steel, the company that has been managing the industrial township of Jamshedpur for 99 years.
This is because Raghobar Das the Finance and Urban Development Minister and Jamshedpur's BJP MLA has been trying to foist a municipality on the town, creating anxiety.
Tata Steel MD B Muthuraman says, “It is creating anxiety. I will not deny it. It is creating anxiety in the people of Jamshedpur as they are used to a certain standard of life – water, quality power, roads and clean air and they are anxious what this new thing is about.”
Das wants a municipality because the guidelines to the urban renewal fund makes elected bodies mandatory for a town or city to access funds.
Tata Steel wants an exception to be made as in the 74th Constitutional Amendment which allows the government to exempt townships like Jamshedpur, Bhilai and Rourkela, where industries provides municipal services, from the requirement of an elected body.
Tata Steel, which holds the lease for Jamshedpur, has been providing and subsidising municipal services there. The arrangement, the company says, has worked well, and has been endorsed by people in three referenda.
Muthuraman adds, “I believe Jamshedpur is the best managed town in the country. While you have one successful model which has been there for a hundred years would you like to bring in some other model which however loft may not yet have been tried.”
An elected body could inject party politics into city management. Things are already very uneasy between the government and the city managers. For instance, the state has notified water rates that are way below the cost of supply, even though people around Jamshedpur have shown a willingness to pay more for assured supply.
The 74th Constitutional Amendment required elected bodies for responsive administration and efficient delivery of public services.
It would be hugely ironic if an exercise in democracy has the opposite effect.
With inputs from Gautam Shaw
| Ads by Google |
| Related Ads: | |
Read Comment | Post Comment
Be the first to comment.