GUWAHATI, June 4 ? A proposal has been mooted to bring all the departments connected with development projects of Guwahati city under the control of the Guwahati Development Department, said the Minister of State in-charge of the Guwahati Development Department, Anjan Dutta. Talking to The Assam Tribune here today, Dutta, who is also the administrator of the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC), admitted that lack of coordination between the departments and Government organisations involved in Development projects has created a serious problem in the city. For example, department like GMC, Guwahati Metropolitan development Authority (GMDA), PWD etc are involved in construction of drains in the city, and no one knows which drain was constructed by which Department and who would maintain the same, he pointed out.
Dutta admitted that he was not satisfied with the performance of the GMC, but at the same time, he said that the Corporation has its own problems. He revealed that the GMC requires an amount of about Rs 25 crore to pay the salaries of the employees alone, while, only an amount of about Rs 23 crore is earned by the Corporation per year. He said that the Corporation is overstaffed with white coloured employees, while there is a shortage of staff for keeping the city clean. He revealed that at present, the GMC is spending an amount of Rs 15 lakh per month to pay the contractors to keep the city clean. ?If any non-government organisation comes forward to take up the job of keeping the city clean, we would be too happy to pay the money that we are now giving the contractors,? he added.
The Minister admitted that keeping the drains clean in the rainy season would be a major task before the GMC. The city has about 4,000 km of drain and the GMC has procured a mini-executor on experimental basis for cleaning the drains. He, however, admitted that the Corporation does not have adequate staff for keeping clean all the drains, and appealed to the citizens not to throw their garbage on the drains. He also revealed that cutting of the hills must be stopped to keep the drains free from siltation. Replying to a question on the failure of the Corporation to provide dust bins, Dutta said that a survey has been initiated in this regard, and this time, a plan is on to install permanent garbage boxes instead of dustbins.