Chief Minister Raghubar Das on Thursday told the public representatives in civic bodies to serve the people, and not to worry over matters of contracts and leases.

He was addressing the functionaries of municipal bodies  from across the state gathered for the review meeting of the Urban development and housing department.

“Public has lost trust in public servants. Municipal corporations are taken to be centres of corruption, all because of project formulation is the responsibility of engineering staff; let them deal with it. The public representatives should only monitor the quality of work being done under these projects,” strongly stated the CM.

He instructed the municipal officials to encourage participation of the local community in the functioning of urban bodies.

“People should not entirely depend on Government for solution to their problems. Public cooperation is vital in ensuring good governance. Our recent interactions with social organisations, industries based in Ranchi were fruitful in generating aid for improving the city. Civic authorities in other cities should also explore the scope of non-Gzovernment assistance in their respective areas,” the CM said.

He expressed his intentions of working with interested private parties for providing basic amenities under PPP mode in major cities of the State.

Talking about the manpower crunch in urban bodies, Das further stated that recommendations have already been sent to JPSC for appointments on vacant posts so as to strengthen the municipalities, and in turn, the state.

On this occasion, Urban Development Minister C.P. Singh said, “As mentioned in our budget statement, we have plans to set up pipelines for supplying clean drinking water to every household in the state by 2017. By 2019, every house will have proper toilets and by 2022 every citizen of the state will have a roof over their heads. Population is growing in the cities and we are committed to provide basic amenities to one and all. But personnel at every level will have to work hand-in-hand to realise these ambitions.”

“We have less than five years to deliver on our promises. But with hard work and determination we can achieve our goals even in this time frame. Public servants at every level should work with the motive of making a better Jharkhand,” Singh added.

In response to requests of financial aid by Dhanbad Mayor Chandrashekhar Agarwal, the CM said, “Municipal Corporations are governing body themselves; they need not to look up to the State Government for all things big and small. Urban bodies should try to generate as much revenue as possible from their respective areas. Any legal issues in this regard will be handled by the State Government.”