Patna Municipal Corporation has decided to purchase a video camera and not hire a third party to record the empowered standing committee meetings.
Two meetings of the empowered standing committee were cancelled recently because of disagreement between the mayor and the commissioner over recording the proceedings.
Deputy mayor Roop Narayan Mehta told The Telegraph on Wednesday: “Several members of the empowered standing committee had contested that employees of the video studio hired to record the meetings could misuse the footage. So, it has been decided that we would buy our own video camera.”
In a meeting of the empowered standing committee on Tuesday, the issue was raised.
Two meetings of the empowered standing committee — on September 30 and October 4 — were cancelled over video recording. Mayor Afzal Imam and a few other members were opposed to it from the beginning, while PMC commissioner Kuldip Narayan insisted on it. Sources said Imam and his aides alleged that the rate of video recording was inflated. The commissioner, while insistent on the recording, assured the members that the rates could be reduced.
In Tuesday’s meeting, several agenda such as installation of streetlights, mandatory municipal trade licences for commercial establishments and renovation of Maurya Lok complex were approved.
The civic body would float tenders for the procurement of 1,800 compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) across Patna within a week. With this initiative, residents can expect improved streetlights during Chhath.
“The project for installation of 25 CFLs in the 72 wards entails an estimated outlay of Rs 10.8 lakh. As the standing committee has the power to approve projects with a cost element up to Rs 25 lakh, the proposal would not have to be sent to the board for approval. We expect that these CFLs would be installed by Chhath,” said Mehta.
This is not the first time that the PMC has floated such a project. It has been over a year that it approved a scheme of installation of 50 CFLs in the 72 wards but the work is yet to be completed.
