Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today asked the Centre to place adequate funds at disposal of the states to ensure all round urban development through the Local Government Institutions in the right earnest on one hand and proper devolution of funds in the spirit of 74th Constitutional amendment on the other.Addressing the 105th National Executive Committee Meeting of the All India Council of Mayors (AICM) here at a private Banquet Hall, Badal bemoaned that Centre was diluting the federal structure by encroaching upon the rights of the states which have been now merely reduced to the level of dignified municipalities. He said that this unfortunate trend followed by the Union Government to usurp the powers of states by the clandestinely shifting from federal to unitary pattern was totally against both the democratic norms as well as Constitutional ethics. Pleading for liberal grant of funds by Centre, Badal categorically said that states alone could not execute development works in the urban sector due to paucity of funds. Therefore, it was the bounden duty of the Central Government to release sufficient funds to the states so as to ensure overall development and growth of the Metro-politian cities in a holistic manner. He rued even after 65 years of Independence, our governments have not been able to provide the people with the basic civic amenities of safe drinking water, Sewerage, roads and street lights. He also criticized the Centre for granting funds to the states under various Centrally Sponsored Schemes like Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNURM) with certain riders or pre-conditions forcing the states to levy user charges or other taxes on the people, consequently the urban bodies were faced with numerous hardships in undertaking development projects. Badal also impressed upon the Mayors to seriously dwell on the issue to frame a comprehensive low cost housing policy to provide houses to low and middle income class at affordable cost. This step would also go a long way in rehabilitating the poorest of poor who were living in utter unhygienic conditions in slums and also help in tackling the problem of slum mushrooming.
The Chief Minister said that the Punjab Government was committed to provide facilities of safe drinking water, sewerage, roads, street lights and parks in all the 142 cities and towns within next three years at a cost of Rs. 6000 crore, as the Urban Development was on the top of its agenda. To achieve the target of all round development in these areas, Badal said the state government had set up the State Urban Development Mission (SUDM) and the focused attention was also paid on Solid Waste Management in our cities. For this purpose, we were planning to set up Integrated Municipal Solid Water Processing Plants for all urban areas across the state. Exhorting the Mayors participating in this two days meeting, Badal asked them to deliberate upon all aspects related to urban development including especially the generation of funds for the up gradation of urban infrastructure to make the urban local bodies financially sustainable and economically viable. He assured them the Punjab Government would be the first in the country to implement their recommendations based on the consensus likely to be emerged in this forum. He hoped the serious deliberations in the meeting would help in forming new and concrete strategies in shaping the destiny of the people in the urban areas. In his address, Home Minister Madya Pradesh and National General Secretary of AICM Uma Shankar Gupta demanded a direct election to the post of Mayor and minimum tenure for five years for them.
Speaking on the occasion, Chairman AICM and Mayor Indore Krishan Murari Moghe pleaded that the state governments should release more funds to the urban local bodies to keep pace with the sudden trend of spurt in the urbanization due to migration from villages to cities, which required additional funds to provide them the basic amenities. He pointed out earlier the ratio of rural-urban population was 80-20 which was now 70-30. In his welcome address, Vice Chairman AICM and Mayor Bathinda Baljit Singh Birbehman said that Punjab Government had accorded the highest priority to the urban development and the recent development in and around Bathinda in terms of up gradation of urban infrastructure was a testimony to the government’s commitment in this regard. He said it was a matter of great pride and honor for Punjab that this historic meeting was being held at Bathinda in the Malwa region of the state.Highlighting the futuristic planning in the field of urban development, Principal Secretary Local Bodies Suresh Kumar said that with the concerted efforts of government under the directions of Chief Minister, Punjab’s urban sector would soon get a new facelift. He hoped that this meeting would offer a healthy platform to the Mayors from 19 Metro-politian cities to share their experiences for the overall urban development of India in general and Punjab in particular. Later addressing the media persons on the issue of the FDI, Badal categorically said that the stand of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) was crystal clear and we were firm on the resolution passed earlier by the SAD core committee that the party vehemently opposes it and expresses solidarity with NDA on this issue being its ally. Referring to the allegations of vendetta leveled by the Congress men regarding their implications in false cases by SAD-BJP government, Badal said that they were deliberately raking up issue just to distract the attention of people from the core issues of development where they and their senior leadership had miserably failed.
Prominent amongst others who attended the function Member Rajya Sabha Balwinder Singh Bhunder, MLA Bathinda Urban and Chief Parliamentary Secretary Sarup Chand Singla, MLA Bathinda Rural Darshan Singh Kotfatta, Political Advisor to the Chief Minister Kamal Sharma, Director Local Government Ashok Gupta, Deputy Commissioner Kamal Kishor yadav, Commissioner Municipal Corporation Bathinda Uma Shankar Gupta besides senior leaders and party workers of SAD-BJP and members of SGPC.