Solan fails to get municipal corporation status

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, November 15

Solan residents, who had been pursuing the case of upgrade of the town to a municipal corporation for years have been disappointed as the town had failed to get the status till now. Though the state government was in the process of converting Palampur town as the third municipal corporation of the state, Solan appears to have lagged behind. Shimla and Dharamsala were the other municipal corporations in the state.

Secretary Urban Development, C Palrasu, said they were yet to receive NoCs from the panchayats lying in the precincts of Solan which would help meet the requisite population which was a major requirement for converting a municipal committee into a corporation. He said having an annual income of Rs 2 crore is other key requirement for getting municipal corporation status.

A Solan Nagar Sangarsh Samiti, constituted for this purpose years ago, was planning to take up the issue once again in order to obtain this status for Solan town which has witnessed the highest population growth in the state. Its convener, Kul Rakesh Pant, said a meeting of the samiti members would be convened on November 18 and its nitty-gritty chalked out. He said the state government should consider the case of Solan on merit.

He said Solan’s claim for upgrade was raised even before Dharamsala but it has failed to get this status till now. Since Palampur was also being upgraded as the state’s third such civic body, Solan’s case should also be considered and its latest population figures should be considered.

He lamented that not only the largest civic body of the state, which had registered a population growth of 57.26 per cent, denied upgrade to a municipal corporation, it has not been included under Centrally sponsored projects such as Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) scheme. The inclusion would have made available adequate funds for upgrading civic amenities such as water, roads, solid waste management, etc.

With a population of 39,256 as per the 2011 Census, the town is short of the 50,000 mark, which is a key criteria for being upgraded to a municipal corporation. Though attempts were made to include nearby areas such as Ribon, Chambaghat, Saproon, Basal, etc, which have a population of 11,208, into Solan to achieve this desired population number, the goal could not be achieved in the absence of consensus from the residents.

Residents, however, point out that the latest population figures should be considered for Solan as this would help it fulfil the criteria. The other criteria of having Rs 2 crore annual income was met by the committee. Notably, the fear of losing votes if the nearby rural areas were merged into the civic body had also acted as a deterrent for the local Congress MLA to push its case in the Congress regime and it remains to be seen if the BJP would manage to obtain it now.