Jamshedpur: State Government has decided to start dialogue with Tata Steel officials with regard to legal procedures involved in granting Industrial Township status to Jamshedpur.
The Urban Development and Housing Department Secretary Vinay Kumar Chaubey had on Friday explained to the Chief Minister about the process to convert Jamshedpur into an Industrial Area that had been initiated since 2005.
The East Singhbhum administration had proposed 10,889.32 acre of land be marked as Industrial Township while 4,496.46 acre be allotted under and as Jamshedpur Municipal Corporation against which vide a departmental letter # 767 dated December 19, 2017 was sent to the Managing Director, Tata Steel asking him to take the consensus of the Board of Directors of the Company.
According to information, the State Government is keen to convert Tata lease area into industrial town while the area under Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee into Municipal Corporation.
As per the plans, incidentally, corporation status will give each of these urban local bodies access to more funds and facilitate improvement of basic amenities while ensuring third voting rights for its residents.
Moreover, the decision on granting Municipal Corporation or industrial township status for Jamshedpur is pending with the Supreme Court since 2006.
It may be recalled that in 1998, Tata Steel approached the then Bihar government for Jamshedpur�s industrial township status. In 2006, it filed a special leave petition before the Supreme Court, challenging the Jharkhand government�s notification and publication in its official gazette in 2005 of its intention to form a municipal corporation for Jamshedpur. The Supreme Court had then directed the status quo on the issue.
One of the officials of a local company said that an industrial township is the only solution, where the civic authority works in a much efficient manner and the public-private partnership module could be implemented for future development. He said that JNAC has been found lacking in many ways. Tata Steel Utilities and Infrastructure Services Limited ( TSUISL) erstwhile JUSCO provides the majority of the civic services to the citizens living within the city while the State-run Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee (JNAC) provides municipal services in the peripheral areas of the city.