People’s Representatives will have greater say in implementation of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). The Union Minister for Urban Development Shri Kamal Nath gave this commitment to the MPs in the Meeting of the Consultative Committee attached to the Ministry of Urban Development on Monday. In the meeting held on discussions on “Reforms under JNNURM”, the Minister briefed the members about the progress of projects and reforms under JNNURM. He invited suggestions from the members for JNNURM II. Stressing on the need for substantive reforms in Urban Local Bodies (ULB), he said some of the reforms in the 1st Phase of the Mission were not practical and that it requires greater involvement of people’s representatives. Shri Ram Vilas Paswan, Shri J P Agarwal, Shri Vilas Baburao Muttemwar,Shri Mithlesh Kumar,Shri Ramesh kumar and Shri Sivakumar C . Udasi attended the meeting.
Responding to suggestions made by Shri Vilas Baburao and Shri Udasi of giving greater priority to non-metro cities and cities with population of more than 1 lakh respectively, Shri Nath said in JNNURM II, adequate focus will be given to such cities. The members emphasized that development of infrastructure in smaller and medium cities will act as a stimulus to their growth and will ease out pressure of migration to metro cities.
The Minister also agreed with the suggestion of the members of the Committee that the Monitoring Mechanism for the Mission needs to be strengthened. He stressed on the need of having MPs & MLAs in the proposed Monitoring Committees at the district level.
Responding to the members’ observation that they were not aware of all the projects being undertaken under the Mission, Shri Nath announced that a booklet will be provided by the Ministry giving information on the status of implementation of the various projects undertaken under JNNURM since its inception to MPs within 30 days.
In the meeting, Shri Vilas Baburao also raised the issue of greater Viability Funding for Metro Rail projects so that cities with more than 20 lakh population may get modern transport system. Shri Paswan, Shri Agarwal and Shri Ramesh Kumar raised concerns about the slums and Jhuggi clusters. Shri Mithlesh Kumar drew Minister’s attention to the need of having more cities from Uttar Pradesh covered under the Mission.
The Minister of State in the Ministry of Urban Development, Shri Saugata Roy, Shri Naveen Kumar, Secretary Ministry of Urban Development and other senior Ministry officials were present at the meeting.