Use revenue for local development: Jagan to municipalities

Vijayawada: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has asked the municipalities to use the revenue for the development of areas under their jurisdiction.

During a meeting to review the functioning of municipalities and corporations on Thursday, the Chief Minister said that the revenue generated by urban local bodies has to be spent locally on various projects and initiatives. He also announced that employees’ salaries will be directly paid by the State government.

The Chief Minister also directed the authorities to prepare a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) focusing on the reforms to be brought in for providing better services to the public alongside developing municipalities and corporations, including the revenue expenditure of each municipality.

He instructed the officials to focus on maintaining proper sanitation by keeping the water and sewerage system in good condition and cleaning them on a regular basis. Charges for maintaining sanitation, water, and sewerage only have to be collected.

Minister for Municipal Administration Botsa Satyanarayana, Chief Secretary Nilam Sawhney, Principal Secretary of Finance SS Rawat, Principal Secretary of Municipal Administration Syamala Rao, Commissioner of MAUD Vijay Kumar and other officials were present at the review meeting.