The Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) will issue notices to private telecommunications companies this week for the installation of poles besides using electricity poles in the city without the permission of the corporation. Apart from this, the corporation also passed the proposal to float tender for door to door collection in the selected 21 new wards. In the executive committee meeting presided over by mayor Sunil Uniyal 'Gama' on Monday, the members discussed and passed several proposals including those which were delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The councillors introduced a major issue in the meeting about the telecommunication companies stating that there is an illegal installation of poles and use of electricity poles in several wards of the city. According to them, some telecommunication companies have paid about Rs 20 crore to the power corporation but they are using poles erected by MCD without a No objection Certificate (NOC). Taking cognisance of the matter, municipal commissioner Vinay Shankar Pandey instructed officials concerned to issue notices to all such companies operating without NOC from MCD.
Meanwhile, the mayor also proposed to discuss four advertising agencies which were supposed to pay the corporation over Rs two crore from April to September but the agencies have asked MCD to give them relaxation as they have collectively earned only about Rs 30 lakh since April. However, no final decision was taken in this matter. Further, focusing on the ways through which MCD can generate more revenue in future, Gama stated that the tender for 10 wedding points and 19 smart vending zones will be done with immediate effect. He asked all councillors to verify the selected places for the construction of smart vending zones in their respective wards and if they find any issue with the sites, they must inform the corporation within one week. Besides this, the issue of the sanitation in the new wards was also discussed in the meeting. According to the municipal commissioner, the corporation wanted to provide sanitation facilities including door to door collection of waste like in 69 wards but MCD had the budget of Rs five crore only which was insufficient for the remaining 31 wards. Therefore, the corporation approached HDFC bank which agreed to fund the sanitation facilities in four wards under the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) which they will possibly start from October 2, as per Pandey. He further informed that the sanitation facilities in five wards are being provided by a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) Waste Warriors and in one ward by Feedback Foundation. Excluding these 10 wards, the budget of the corporation for the sanitation facilities of the remaining 21 wards falls under Rs five crore, therefore MCD will soon invite tender for the same, added Pandey. Besides this, the members also proposed survey of the street vendors besides vegetable vendors so that they can also benefit from Prime Minister Svanidhi Scheme through which they can get a loan of Rs 10,000. As stated by Pandey, "We have the data of only vegetable and fruit street vendors through the survey of the year 2016. About 2,700 such vendors are registered with MCD and recently 835 vendors wanted loans under this scheme." He added that this scheme can benefit other street vendors too like cobblers, therefore the corporation will complete the survey of all such street vendors within 15 days.
Meanwhile, Gama stated that to increase the revenue of the corporation, the MCD will also provide 100 milk booths to Aanchal Dairy. The corporation is also planning to provide employment to at least 10,000 locals through various projects like wedding points and vending zones among others which will increase the earnings of MCD too, he claimed.