The final results of two rounds of the Municipal Premiere League (MPL) –MPL 1.0 and MPL 2.0 undertaken by the Housing & Urban Development Department were announced on Saturday and the winners were felicitated by HUD Minister Pratap Jena at a function held at the Lokseva Bhawan here.
The Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) and the Buguda NAC w were adjudged as Best ULBs for MPL 1.0 and 2.0 editions, respectively.
The MPL is a competition to motivate tax officials in Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) to improve their performances and enable maximum collections. For MPL 2.0, the BeMC was the Best ULB in the Corporation category, Paradeep in the Municipality category and Buguda in the NAC category.
Jena said it was satisfying to see the growth of revenue collections through the MPL in the last two years, especially considering the challenges faced during the Covid pandemic.
”When ULBs are able to generate funds from their own revenues, it ensures that they are getting financially stronger to cater to the demands of citizens in providing them with more facilities like parks, play grounds, better roads etc.,” he added.
He also appreciated the ULBs for quick adoption of digital technologies in revenue collection. Digitisation is crucial in reforming ULB revenue management system for maintaining accurate record, tracking and building trust between citizens and civic bodies, he said.
The MPL 1.0 was initially launched in Odisha across nine larger cities in February 2020 for 214 tax functionaries. It was later scaled up as MPL 2.0 to all the 114 ULBs for 655+ tax functionaries. The Minister also launched MPL 3.0 for the coming year during the event.