The functions of the municipality may be broadly classified as (a) compulsory or obligatory and (b) optional or discretionary function.
The compulsory or obligatory functions include supply of drinking water, construction and maintenance of public streets, public hospital, sewerage system, primary schools, registration of births and deaths in the area, lights the public streets, to look after the sanitary condition of the town.
The discretionary or option functions include wide range of developmental activities of immediate interest like establishment and maintenance of High Schools and colleges, public reading rooms, parks and cinema halls, running of daily market, diary firms, rendering social service during period of calamity, urban planning, etc.