Raipur Mayor Pramod Dubey has emphasized the need for getting the status of a metropolitan city for Raipur for the speedy development of the capital city.
Talking to The Pioneer Mayor Dubey said the capital city being governed by Raipur Municipal Corporation fulfills the criteria of being a metropolitan as per the population it has as per census of 2011.
“As per Article 243P of Nagarpalika Act, 1993 the constitutional status of a metropolitan area in the country is an area where population is above 10 Lakh and the capital city fulfills this criteria as the population as per census of 2011 exceeds this figure”, he said. “As per census 2011 the population of the city exceeds 11 lakhs”, he added.
The present status of the city is an Urban Agglomeration Million Plus city and it must now be upgraded as a metropolitan, he said.
“Earlier I tried to get pass a resolution regarding it in general body meeting of the corporation but failed due to lack of support from the opposition”, he said adding “once again I could table this resolution if opposition members are ready to support it.”
“It is in the benefit of the city as we will be able to get additional financial assistance from the Union government. So the issue should not be politicized”, he said.
“The mechanized sweeping which has now been started in the capital city could have been done two years ago if the opposition BJP corporators had supported my move then”, he added.
Meanwhile, senior BJP Corporator Manoj Prajapati commenting on the issue assured to support “any such move which is in the interest of citizens of the city and beneficial to most of the population.”
“We the opposition corporators of the BJP will support any such issue which will benefit the citizens”, he reiterated.