A bill to facilitate the smooth transition of areas newly included in the territorial limits of Chennai, Madurai and Coimbatore corporations and some municipalities from the local bodies they fell earlier was introduced in the Assembly on Friday.
The bill is in the form of a composite amendment to the various municipal laws relating to these cities and other urban bodies and is aimed at effectively dealing with matters relating to the process of transition now under way following the expansion of the territories.
The transition process involves vesting of the assets and liabilities of the local areas in the larger institutions, the continuance of taxes, fees and duties levied by the old local bodies and absorption of employees in the Corporations. An ordinance to give immediate effect to these provisions was promulgated on January 25, and the bill, likely to be taken up for consideration on Saturday, seeks to replace it. Another bill to facilitate the transition of taxes, fees and duties levied on water supply and sewerage services from local bodies to the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board was also introduced.
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The proposed law would help transfer these levies collected by local bodies to Metrowater following the inclusion of these areas under the Chennai Corporation limits. The Assembly also saw the introduction of a bill to amend the Payment of Salaries Act to provide for enhancement of the Constituency Allowance payable to members from Rs.5,000 to Rs. 10,000 per month, the pension payable to former members from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 12,000 and the family pension payable to the families of deceased members from Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 6,000.