A proposal to float a ward-wise tender to install LED lights before Dussehra was given a nod at the Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC)'s general board meeting on Thursday.

LED lights worth around Rs 4 lakh would be installed in every ward before Dussehra. The decision to replace defunct street lights and hanging cables with new ones before the festival was also passed in the meeting. However, the proposal of slashing down the total number of labourers in around 35 wards of the total 75 wards of PMC was opposed by various ward councillors and even deputy mayor Vinay Kumar Pappu during the meeting at the SK Puri community hall. A consensus was formed on increasing five labourers in each ward in the meeting.

'The Swacch Bharat Mission guidelines, as per which there should be one sanitation worker for every 625 permanent residents in wards, cannot go well for the sanitation scenario in the state capital. In my ward (ward number-28), there are around 18,000 permanent residents but popular hangouts like Buddha Smriti Park, Patna Junction-based Mahavir temple, Patna Municipal Corporation's office, a portion of Gandhi Maidan fall in my ward apart from many business establishments including restaurants. Thousands of people visit these places everyday. What does the PMC want to do? It wants to clear the garbage generated by 18,000 residents while it won't clear the garbage generated by rest of the people who visit my ward every day,' said Vinay during the meeting. He and other councillors, including Ashish Kumar Sinha, opposed cutting down number of labourers from the wards as per the Union government guideline.

Among proposals which got a nod were handing over the holding tax collection work to a Ranchi-based private agency.

The decision to engage a private agency in collecting holding tax from households has been taken in the view of PMC's failure in achieving cent per cent tax collection.

Sources said the PMC has failed to achieve its target of holding tax collection in the past few years. Last year also, it collected only Rs 42 crore against a target of Rs 80 crore.

According to a senior PMC official, this year PMC had fixed a target of holding tax collection at Rs 100 crore. 'The private firm supposed to look after the tax collection job would have to ensure collection of Rs 90 crore,' said the official.