Urban Development Secretary Vinay Kumar Choubey has instructed all the municipal bodies to ensure cleanliness of all drains across the cities before pre-monsoon showers – an effort that is expected to prevent waterlogging, a press communique said on Tuesday.
Choubey chaired a meeting via video conferencing on Tuesday and instructed the concerned officials to brace up for monsoon. He said that sanitisation works will continue in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic. "Waterlogging causes a lot of diseases, and we must be ready to prevent contraction of these diseases in our cities," he said.
Choubey said that lack of manpower and non-availability of machines should not be an excuse for not cleaning drains. The secretary asked officials to pay special attention to cleaning and sanitisation of COVID-19 containment zones. "We have to identify the areas that have a waterlogging problem in all the cities of Jharkhand and address the reason behind the problem," he said.
The holding tax for the financial year 2019-20 will be deposited without interest till May 31, said Choubey, adding that municipal bodies which were behind in tax collection in the last financial year should also meet their targets.
"Clear the dues of the companies engaged in cleanliness on time so that they can pay salaries to the workers on time. Municipal bodies and concessionaires, pay timely wages to daily workers," Choubey said.
Talking about the Prime Minister Housing Scheme, he asked officials to ensure that the individual houses being constructed under Vertical 4 are to be completed soon before the monsoon. "Ensure that the beneficiaries of affordable housing under vertical 3 get loan by coordinating with the bank," he said.
During the meeting, the Municipal Commissioners and Executive Officers of many municipal bodies informed about their efforts in the field of cleanliness. On behalf of the department, along with Choubey, several officials were present including SUDA Director Shashiranjan, DMA Director Rajeev Ranjan, Joint Secretary Sanjay Bihari Ambasht and KK Mishra, Deputy Director Ramakrishna Kumar and Assistant Director, Vinit Kumar.