Govt. plans balanced development

By Our Special Correspondent

GANDHINAGAR, JUNE 27. The Gujarat Government has decided to set up `Outer Municipal Areas Development Authorities' to ensure balanced development of semi-urban areas in the state.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the state cabinet held here today under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister, Mr. Keshubhai Patel.

He told reporters later that Gujarat was the first state in the country to consider setting up of development authorities for areas other than the major urban agglomerations. Each district would have one outer municipal areas development authority with the district collector concerned as its chairman to control growth of the surrounding areas of the municipalities.

He said the municipalities would be divided into three categories - the bigger ones in class `A' would have five kilometres radius of development areas, class `B' category three kms and class `C' two kilometres.

The state cabinet also decided to recommend to the Governor, Mr. Sunder Singh Bhandari, to convene the budget session of the state Assembly on July 26 to adopt the budget for the current financial year. The budget session, scheduled to be held in February, was deferred due to the January 26 earthquake and instead a vote on account was taken for five months till August.

Mr. Patel said besides seven ordinance-replacing bills, a number of official bills including one to encourage two- child norm families was expected to be introduced in the House during the budget session. He said the Suresh Mehta cabinet sub- committee which had given time up to June 30 to submit its recommendations on the formulation of the bill, had sought more time and was expected to submit its report by the end of the first week of the next month. ``There will still be enough time to draft the bill and introduce in the House in the budget session,'' he said.

The chief minister announced a special sanction of Rs. five crores from the State Disaster Management Authority funds to the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation to repair its school buildings damaged in the January 26 earthquake. The sanction come a day after an eight-year old boy was killed and two others injured in a roof-collapse of an earthquake damaged school building yesterday.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Other States
Previous : 15 massacred in carnages
Next     : Stress on practical forest policy