VADODARA, Sept 27: Vadodara Mayor Umakant Joshi has urged the municipality to increase the mayoral tenure to two-and-a-half years. Addressing a meeting of all office-bearers of the six municipal corporations in the State, held in Ahmedabad recently, Joshi said civic works could be carried out in proper, planned manner if the tenure is increased.He also called for a special policy for unauthorised slums in view of the ever-increasing population.The office-bearers decided that all six municipal corporations will enlighten the State Government about successful implementation of certain policies in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.The participants expressed that the civic bodies should be assured of the necressary amount a month in advance if octroi was abolished.The meeting also advocated the need to decentralise powers and minimise friction between the elected and administrative wings.VMC allocation: The VMC administration has decided to allocate Rs 112 lakh as spillover from the councillors' budget and the administrative zone's budget in the current financial year.According to sources, the additional amount had to be allocated from the spillover from 1997-98 to 1998-99 as the allocated amount of Rs 100 lakh fell short.Track slipper: The VMC has proposed to construct 1,000 slippers on the toy-train tracks in Sayaji Garden at a cost of Rs 1.44 lakh. According to sources, the slippers have to be fitted due to wear-and-tear.Revised charges: Having initiated action against erring civic employees, the VMC has now decided to recover revised charges of the Mahatma Gandhi Nagar Gruh with effect from August 16. Although the new charges came into effect much earlier, the civic employees were late in recovering the new rates.Artists' Association of Vadodara had asked the VMC that the charges be recovered from August 16 and not with retrospective effect from earlier date.Mourned: The General Board meeting of the VMC was adjourned here on Monday till Tuesday following paying respects to former councillor Jivabhai Lokhandwala, former State Congress chief Prabodh Raval and former State Governor Krishnapal Singh.The Board also condemned the incident in which seven persons died in police firing in Surat.The Congress also mourned Raval's death.
