13 additional municipal councils to be set up in J&K

Jammu and Kashmir will get 13 more municipal councils as the Administrative Council of the Union territory approved upgradation of all district-level municipal committees along with creation of new committees.

The decision will raise the number of municipal councils to 19 in a bid to strengthen urban local bodies by increasing their human resource capacities and streamline the cadre management.

The Administrative Council, which met under the chairmanship of Lieutenant Governor G C Murmu on Wednesday night, accorded sanction for upgrading all municipal committees at district headquarters and those with population of more than 30,000 as per 2011 Census after following due process, an official spokesman said.

Currently, there are six municipal councils in the Union Territory - Kathua, Udhampur, Poonch, Anantnag, Baramulla and Sopore.

The upgraded municipal councils from committees include Kulgam, Pulwama, Shopian, Ganderbal, Budgam, Bandipora, Kupwara, Reasi, Doda, Samba, Kishtwar, Ramban and Rajouri, the spokesman said.

The Administrative Council also accorded sanction to the upgradation of 13 posts of executive officers to chief executive officers in the upgraded municipal councils besides creation of 19 posts of accounts officers in the existing and proposed municipal councils.

The upgraded posts of chief executive officers will be filled up initially by deputation from officers of the Jammu & Kashmir Administrative Service of equivalent rank and scale, whereas the posts of accounts officers will be taken up by deputation from officers of the J&K Accounts (Gazetted) Service.

This will help in effective handling of conceptualisation and planning of development activities along with timely execution besides enabling the councils to perform emerging roles viz., social development, social justice and urban poverty alleviation.