Remove JNNURM irritants, Fadnavis tells centre

Mumbai, Feb 7 (IANS) Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis Saturday asked the central government to remove various irritants in the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) to ensure the pending projects are completed on schedule.

"Presently, the JNNURM is over, but many issues pertaining to the scheme remain which the central government must address. Projects taken up under the JNNURM cannot be discarded and need to be completed," Fadnavis urged at a Consultative Workshop on Urban Governance attended by union Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu.

He said Maharashtra has been at the forefront in urban governance and sought more reforms to make cities more sustainable, livable and smarter.

Fadnavis noted that nearly 50 percent of Maharashtra's population now lives in 265 big and small cities and the rest in 40,000 villages.

"Accordingly urban governance is a key issue. To improve urban governance, we need to conceive holistic projects to make the cities flourish," he said.

Addressing the workshop, Naidu called for four Ps - people, and public-private partnerships to develop cities.

He outlined reforms needed to be taken up at the state and city levels in terms of working with transparency by digitalization of records and assets for which funds would come from the central government.

Announcing that 4041 statutory towns in India would be provided sanitation facilities within five years under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Naidu emphasized that this would need taking local icons, corporate and people on board to make it a success.

On the occasion, he released the first instalment of around Rs.230 crore including Rs.135 crore for Maharashtra, for western and central states under the SBM to build individual and community toilets and for solid waste management.

Naidu said the central funds would be made available to cities based on their performance, for which the central government would start rating cities in different categories at the national level.

The workshop was attended by 115 municipal commissioners, urban development ministry officials from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Goa.