Jamshedpur, Dec. 7: The state government has informed Jharkhand High Court that it will take steps to declare the steel city an industrial town.
The court had served a notice on the government in mid-November after a public interest litigation (PIL) was filed in the court by a steel city-based social activist, Jawahar Lal Sharma.
Sharma had alleged that the government violated Supreme Court directives by not forming a municipality in the city. Sharma moved the court after chief minister Arjun Munda announced that the government has decided to accord the status of the industrial township to the city.
The court has also served similar notices on the erstwhile Bihar government, Tata Steel and Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee (JNAC) on the same issue.
The government said according to provisions in the Bihar Municipal Act, a city can be declared industrial township if the municipal services are provided by an industrial establishment. “In Jamshedpur, such services are provided by Tata Steel since the time they set up the company in Jamshedpur. Therefore, steps are being taken to declare Jamshedpur as an industrial township under sub section (4) of the section 4 of the Bihar Municipal Act,” the state government told the court.
The government told the court that the erstwhile Bihar government had initiated steps to declare Jamshedpur and Bokaro as industrial townships.
“The Jharkhand government is taking steps to adopt the Bihar and Orissa Municipal Act. The state government is also planning to declare the two cities as industrial towns,” the government said.
The government also told the court that Jamshedpur could not be declared as a metropolitan city since there were no such provisions. A town with a population of around 11.5 lakh cannot be called a metropolitan city, says the provisions. A town having a population of over 50 lakh can be declared a metropolitan city.
The government assured the court that after the constitution of the industrial township, it would form a management committee to take care of Tata Steel areas and non-employee residents of the steel city.
