Haryana to replace Ambala Municipal Corporation with 2 councils

The Haryana government on Saturday decided to abolish the Ambala Municipal Corporation and instead set up two separate municipal councils, said a state government spokesman.

"Ambala City and Ambala Sadar will now have separate Municipal Councils as the earlier Municipal Corporation, Ambala, has been abolished in the interest of people of the area," he said.

The decision was taken in the meeting of state Cabinet which met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar here.

"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," a note in the Cabinet meeting said.

Besides, 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.

"Moreover, the two areas fall under two different assembly constituencies," the note read.

Ambala is located around 45 km from here.

"The town of Ambala Sadar is situated at a distance of around 10 to 12 km from the main Municipal Corporation office at Ambala city. The Commissioner of the Corporation and all the branch heads have 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 have to visit Corporation office at Ambala city," the spokesman explained.

"The continuation of the Municipal Corporation was also not financially viable. The income of Ambala Municipal Corporation 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," he added.

--IANS

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