Fate of KMC’s ‘Talk to Mayor’ uncertain due to ‘fund crunch’

Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) is likely to decide on continuing the ‘Talk To Mayor’ programme in the wake of an existing fund crunch.

The programme has over the years gained popularity with Mayor Firhad Hakim providing speedy solutions following a phone call at the designated number. However, the Mayor has often said that several calls pertain to personal problems which include fixing water connections in one’s home or even getting the pavement in front of their home repaired and even at times demanding that trees within the premises of a housing be trimmed by the civic body.

The Mayor also gets calls from complainants outside the jurisdiction of KMC. However, he has always maintained that people may not understand jurisdictions but it is the priority of the state to help them to the best extent possible.

However, KMC sources said that addressing such problems is putting pressure on the exchequer fund since a problem that can be solved by calling a plumber is also being referred to the civic body where engineers are having to fix it without any charges.

The civic body is already putting efforts to recover the tax dues which can replenish its treasury. At such a juncture, unnecessary expenses will only increase the burden.

A source said that either KMC has to start charging a fee for solving such personal issues or halt the programme till its coffers get replenished.