Gaya: The empowered standing committee of the Gaya Municipal Corporation (GMC) on Tuesday approved a series of proposals aimed at improving civic services, strengthening infrastructure and increasing the corporation’s revenue. With rising temperature, water supply was a priority on the agenda in the meeting.Mayor Virendra Kumar alias Ganesh Paswan, who presided over the meeting, expressed displeasure over absence of the officials of Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation (Buidco) in the meeting. Buidco has carried out major work on the water supply network within the municipal area.The mayor proposed the committee to write to the urban development department, Magadh division commissioner and the Gaya DM to highlight the matter regarding absence of Buidco officials.He also expressed displeasure over poor cleanliness in several wards. Other members too expressed concern that large-scale desilting of drains had not begun even as April ends. They said delay could worsen waterlogging during the monsoon.Municipal commissioner Abhishek Palasia warned engineers and other officials if no improvement was seen by the next meeting, salaries of erring officials could be withheld and suspension action initiated.Committee member and former deputy mayor Akhouri Onkarnath alias Mohan Shrivastava said, “To improve the city’s lighting network, the committee approved installation of 11,000 LED streetlights across the 53 wards besides, one high mast and one mini high mast light in each ward. In addition, approval was granted for procurement of 70 high mast and 70 mini high mast lights for key intersections and crowded areas”.To improve water availability, the civic body approved the purchase of 40 new water tankers and 25 tractor engines. Regular tanker-based water supply has also been planned for commercial areas.In a bid to generate revenue for the civic body, the committee approved plans to develop complexes, markets and malls on vacant GMC’s land at four major locations, including indoor stadium, Asha Singh Mor, Kedarnath market area, Gurudwara road near ice factory, and Godawari locality.
