Tamil Nadu Urban Infrastructure Financial Services ... - Municipal

16. Recording of vital statistics including registration of births and deaths
17. Provision of public amenities including street lighting, parking lots, bus stops and public
conveniences
18. Regulation of slaughterhouses and tanneries.
While not mandatory, the provisions direct state governments to decide the powers and functions to
be devolved to local bodies. Tamil Nadu has delegated functions 2 to 6 and 8 to 18 to ULBs 3 . Though
Urban Planning as a function is vested with the Department of Town and county planning, both the
political and administrative heads namely the Chairman and the commissioner are typically involved
in the process of preparing master plans.
9.2 Reform agenda – interventions required at the state level
As observed above, GoTN has ushered in a number of reforms in the urban sector. However, there is a
need to persist with this direction. The stage is set for the state to usher in a set of second generation
reform that furthers the vision of the 74 th Constitutional amendment in empowering and strengthening
local governance. In this regard, we have outlined below a set of possible reform areas and
interventions below:
1. Implement recommendations of the Third State Finance Commission – The
recommendations relating to the revenue buoyancy of the ULBs including property tax reform
and devolution income and transfer are particularly critical for the financial stability of the ULBs
and need to be implemented on priority.
2. Maintain reasonable stability of tenure of key officials – We recommend that except for
extraordinary circumstances, there should be a minimum tenure of at least 2 years for all the key
positions including Commissioner, Municipal Engineer, Manager, Town Planning Inspector,
Sanitary and public health head and Accountant. Further, guidelines need to be clarified and
enforced for formal charge handover whenever there is a transfer of officials to ensure continuity
of city level vision, projects and streamlined service delivery.
3. Carry out an Independent assessment of skill gaps and manpower needs of Krish- M - There
is a need for an independent review of the skill requirements in various grades of municipal
bodies to ascertain the appropriate manpower plan in terms of skill sets and experience/seniority.
This is particularly relevant given the recent developments and the growing service delivery
expectations in the urban sector specifically in urban planning, municipal accounting and systems,
e-governance and modern practices in infrastructure service delivery including potential for
public-private partnerships.
4. Address critical operational areas through focused training and capacity building
interventions - Three areas stand out in terms of criticality and the need for significant training
interventions. These include:
3 Source: Local Governments Finances and Bond Markets. ADB. 2003
CCP cum BP - Krishnagiri Municipality 75