Ambala city and Ambala Sadar will now have separate municipal councils, as the Haryana Government has decided to abolish the Municipal Corporation of Ambala.

A decision to this effect was taken in the meeting of State Cabinet held here under Chief Minister Manohar lal.

The separate Municipal Bodies for Ambala city area and Ambala Sadar area will prove to be more convenient for the people of Ambala Sadar area to avail various municipal services by reduction in time, distance and cost, said an official spokesman.

Moreover, the military station and cantonment areas of Ambala Cantonment Board, having station cell of Indian Army also breaks the geographical continuity of Ambala city area with Ambala Sadar area, as the cantonment area falls between these two areas. Apart from this, the two areas fall under two different assembly constituencies, said he.

The town of Ambala Sadar is situated at a distance of around 10 to 12 kilometers from the main Municipal Corporation office at Ambala city. The Commissioner of the Corporation and all the branch heads has their offices in the main office.

Apart from this, most of the 15 villages of Ambala Sadar area are situated further away from the main Corporation Office and for most of the municipal works and redressal of grievances, the people of Ambala Sadar area had to visit Corporation office at Ambala city, said the spokesman.

As per 2001 and 2011 census, the population of the Ambala city area was 1,39,279 and 1,95,153 respectively. Similarly, the population for Ambala Sadar area for these two years was 1,06,568 and 1,70,223 respectively.

The continuation of the Municipal Corporation was also not financially viable, the spokesman said.

He said that the income of Municipal Corporation Ambala for the financial year 2016-17 was Rs 51.15 crore. Against this the expenditure of the Corporation on their own establishment charges like salary, provident fund share, pension, gratuity of its employees and other local and mandatory obligations like audit fees, repayment of loans contracted by them was Rs 51.19 crore, which is 100.08 per cent of the income.

Similarly, for the financial year 2015-16, the expenditure was 104.89 per cent of income. The income and expenditure details of the Corporation from financial year 2010-11 to 2016-17, show that the expenditure of the Municipal Corporation, Ambala was more than 80 per cent of the total income, except in financial year 2013-14, said he.