Focus will be on sanitation, solid waste management: Ludhiana's new MC Commissioner

Kuldip Bhatia

Ludhiana, May 6

New Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation Shena Agarwal assumed office here today. On her arrival at the office, she was given a hearty welcome by senior officials and employees of the civic body.

In an exclusive interview with The Tribune, the Commissioner said sanitation, solid waste management and rejuvenation of the Budha Nullah, which are inter-related issues, will be her priority areas. “The city lags behind in solid waste management, especially segregation, compaction, transportation and final disposal of solid waste. A lot of work has been done but a lot more is still required in this regard,” she said.

Agarwal, who knows the city quite well, having served as an Additional Commissioner of the MC and Additional Deputy Commissioner (Development) here, observed that creation of urban infrastructure had failed to keep pace with needs of the city residents and it would be the endeavour to motivate heads and staff of all the branches to improve recovery of arrears, be those water/sewerage bills, property tax, composition fee, advertisement tax or other local taxes.

“If we have enough funds at our disposal, only then we shall be able to put development projects on fast track. Core areas of priority for development will be main and feeder roads in the city, which, more or less, are in a shambles. The MC should provide reasonably good roads, streets and urban infrastructure to the city, designated as Smart City,” she added.

On several ongoing projects being executed under the Smart City Mission getting delayed, the Commissioner said she would soon convene a meeting to review all ongoing projects and those in the pipeline. “Every effort would be made to speed up work on all Smart City projects, particularly the canal-based water supply, rejuvenation of the Budha Nullah, solid waste management, overbridges and underpass so that these could be completed as early as possible and could have a positive impact on the Smart City image of the industrial hub of the state,” added the Commissioner.

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