‘All city development plans need revision’---- TAG and Mission Director JNNURM

[Vinay Baindur]

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=219863 One year after the launch of JNNURM in view of the public outcry against the "privatisation" model of development and governance and a recent statement on the adverse impact of globalisation on many people in the country by congress president is this statement It is already contained in the guidelines since a few months but will rigid guideline based top- down JNNURM ever work except to create more spotted "growth" Vinay 'All city development plans need revision'

CDPs need to be modified as not one city mentions public consultation, new guidelines soon

Express News Service

Ahmedabad, January 29: A working group of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), at its first meeting held here on Monday, has decided to ask all cities covered under the Mission to revise their city development plans (CDPs) in light of fresh guidelines to be issued shortly. Formed to appraised CDPs, the working group is expected to submit its report to the Central Government by March-end. M Rajamani, Mission Director and joint secretary in the Ministry of Urban Development, said the Working Group consisted of municipal commissioners of Ahmedabad, Nanded and Chennai besides members of the JNNURM's National Technical Advisory Group (TAG) and experts drawn from different agencies like CEPT and IIM. On Monday, at the end of deliberations at CEPT University, seven sub-groups were formed to discuss seven project themes coming under the Mission's scope of funding. These sub-groups will submit their findings by March 15 and toolkits (guidelines for revising CDPs) will be prepared in the light of those findings, he said. The toolkit will help the civic bodies to understand what is needed to get clearance for the projects. "In the first round of CDPs submission, flaws and gaps were found. Therefore, the cities will be asked to take a second look. CDP is not a one-time exercise but a continuous process of change and revision... all CDPs showed plans and processes, but not one mentioned public consultation. Hence, revision is required," said JNNURM National Technical Advisor Ramesh Ramanathan. Ramanathan said Gujarat stood next only to Maharashtra in funding projects. Of proposals worth Rs 2,000 crore, plans worth Rs 1,100 crore were sanctioned for Ahmedabad, while remaining are in the pipeline. Later, at an interactive session with stake-holders at Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA) - the first such session to be held in the country - Mission members listened to representatives of various groups like professionals, politicians and voluntary organisations. Ramanathan, who conducted the interactive session, said such interactions provide people with an opportunity to get involved directly with what the Government plans to do about their surroundings. He said TAG was extremely serious about feedback from people and would see that their doubts are removed and problems addressed. Those who took part in the session include industrialist Vimal Ambani, hotelier Jehangir Cama, activist Nafeesa Barot, Mahesh Pandya, MLA Pradeepsinh Jadeja, former mayors Bhavnaben Dave and Nandlal Wadhwa, MP Surendra Patel, Swati Vyas of SEWA and Mayor Amit Shah among others. The common refrain was that the CDPs should be realistic and must keep ground realities in view instead of following fancy growth models. It was also emphasised that thrust should be on involving the poor at their own level and also form area committees and ward committees to bridge the gap between common man and civic bodies. The Mission members will hold group meetings with civic councillors on Tuesday to further streamline understanding of CDPs and clear their general concepts about JNNURM.