While seeking to put at rest the controversy over the orders issued to the ward administrative secretaries to supervise and ensure proper remittance of the user fee collected from public toilets (pay and use) within the city, Commissioner of Guntur Municipal Corporation (GMC) Nishant Kumar issued revised orders on Wednesday, making the public health workers responsible for collection of the fee, ward administrative secretaries responsible for supervising the collection, and revenue inspectors responsible for timely remittance of the fee in the treasury accounts.
There was a furore over the order issued by the GMC Assistant Commissioner recently, asking the ward administrative secretaries to supervise the cleanliness and collection of the user fee in the three locations where public toilets exist.
President of the village/ward secretariat employees’ federation M.D. Jani Pasha said in a statement that the orders meant that even women secretaries should be physically present at the public toilets till 10 p.m. as per the shift system.
Putting to rest all concerns, Mr. Nishant Kumar said the ward administrative secretaries would be given only supervisory role. The public health workers would be entrusted with the responsibility of collecting he user fee, while the revenue inspectors should remit the money in banks.
A private agency had been awarded the lease contract for 15 years to maintain the public toilets in the three places. With its term expiring on February 27, departmental collection would have to be taken up till completion of auction as per procedure.
With the instructions “wrongly understood,” a note was circulated among all the groups on Tuesday afternoon that the ward administrative secretaries and revenue inspectors were not supposed to collect the money in person near the public toilet, but should supervise the activity and ensure remittance of the fee collected to the bank account concerned.
