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.
Threat: Threat to blow up the school, police-administration high alert
Karnataka School Bomb threat: In Karnataka, a case of receiving a threat to blow up a school with
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Kanpur on Tuesday. He inaugurated the metro here. Apart from
Baba's aarti has become expensive in Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi. Devotees will have to p
Russia leaves Saudi Arabia behind in oil issue, Arab countries' crisis deepens
In March this year, there was a dispute in Saudi Arabia and Russia about the price of oil. Saudi
Russia Ukraine War Update: 40 million people forced to leave their homes after Russia attack
Since the February 24 attack on Ukraine by Russian military forces, 14 million people in Ukraine
Prime Minister Narendra Modi remembered those who were affected during Partition on the occasion
Rashmika Mandanna and Vijay Deverakonda are making headlines for their wedding. They had a grand
The match between India and Pakistan in the semi-finals of the World Championship of Legends (WCL
Actor Ishaan Khattar is constantly in the headlines these days. Recently his film Pippa has been
IPL 2024: Fans booed Hardik in Wankhede, Rohit stopped him and was seen pacifying the audience.
The 17th season of IPL has been full of bad memories for Hardik Pandya so far. On one hand, the t
