SHIMLA: Himachal Pradesh PWD Minister Vikramaditya Singh said here on Wednesday (March 5, 2025) that due to continuous efforts and representations of the state government, the central government had sanctioned a grant of Rs 50 crore for the establishment of Municipal Shared Services Centres (MSSCs) for National Data Centre in the state under the 15th Finance Commission.
Vikramaditya said that the state government, under the guidance of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, has been actively working to strengthen municipal administration by modernising urban local bodies.
He said that the government was working to address critical challenges such as limited manpower, financial constraints and lack of technical support and the introduction of MSSCs would play a significant role in improving governance and service delivery across municipalities.
The PWD Minister said the MSSC would also help streamline essential services such as issuance of birth and death certificates, trade licences and grievance redressal, similar to the Passport Seva Kendras.
Apart from this, these centers would function as centralised processing hubs for accounting, payroll management and vendor payments. They would also facilitate doorstep services, such as tax collection, waste management and maintenance works, which would significantly improve efficiency in smaller urban local bodies.
He said the state government had been proactively engaging with the centre to secure funding for urban development initiatives.
The sanctioned grant is a testimony to these efforts and would be utilized to establish three clusters of urban local bodies (ULBs) within the state and ensure more efficient and technology-driven municipal administration to the people of the state.
Vikramaditya Singh said the ministry had already sent the proposal for the release of funds to Himachal. Apart from Himachal the fund would be released to Assam, Arunachal and Nagaland.
He said that the funds would be disbursed in two tranches — 50 per cent would be disbursed at the time of sanction and the remaining on operationalisation of the MSSC models. He said to ensure effective implementation, the state would appoint a third-party organisation of national repute to monitor and evaluate the project.
He said that the MSSC model would reduce costs, optimise resource utilisation and enhance service delivery which would benefit urban residents across the state.
Sunil Chadha
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