Minister of Urban Development and Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation Shri M.Venkaiah Naidu today directed senior officials of his Ministries to visit States more regularly to assist States and Urban Local Bodies in effective implementation of new urban missions launched during 2015. The Minister desired the senior officials to be thoroughly conversant with all the schemes of the Ministry so ass to be able to take up comprehensive review of their implementation with states and urban local bodies.Shri Venkaiah Naidu reviewed implementation of Smart City Mission, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), Swachh Bharat Mission, Heritage Development and Augmentation Yojana(HRIDAY), Prime Minister’s Awas Yojana(Urban) and capacity building of urban local bodies.
Shri Naidu said that the year 2015 marked a landmark in urban development sector with the launch of new mission and 2016 marks the beginning of implementation challenges with the Central and State Governments and urban local bodies required to ‘ walk the talk’ together. After reviewing the progress under Swachh Bharat Mission in urban areas, Shri Naidu said that he will write to all the Chief Ministers inviting their attention to the need for monitoring at the highest level in the state. He was informed by the concerned officials that as against the target of construction of 25 lakh household toilets by March,2016, work has commenced on construction of over 20 lakh toilets of which construction of 8.30 lakh toilets has so far been completed and the target is likely to be met. Shri Naidu directed the officials to focus on capacity building of urban local bodies for effective implementation of new urban development schemes.
The Minister asked Secretary(UD) to take up with states to ensure timely transfer of resources to the urban local bodies. DDA was asked to focus on enhancing quality of construction to meet the expectation of buyers. Vice-Chairman, DDA explained the measures being taken in this regard. Setting up of Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) under Smart City Mission was also discussed in the meeting. It was clarified that SPVs to be set up are meant for focused and timely implementation of Smart City Plans and would in no way encroach on the powers and authority of urban local bodies. Shri Venkaiah Naidu desired DMRC, National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) and DDA to set up Skill Development Centres in respective domains for the benefit of the youth.