Worried over the slow pace of work despite pumping in Rs 5 lakh crore in the new urban missions, the Housing and Urban Affairs (HUA) Ministry has decided to review all the projects once in 15 days.
Union HUA Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday directed senior officials that he would review progress of all projects of new urban missions, launched in last three years, once in 15 days on every first and third Tuesday of a month.
He also directed that the National Rental Housing Policy and the Model Tenancy Act, under consideration for long, should be finalised at the earliest and that the DDA should immediately notify the land Pooling Policy cleared by the Ministry long back.
Sources in the Ministry said despite approving investment and expenditure of about Rs 5 lakh crore in the past three years, nothing is visible on the ground till date. As per statistics of HUA Ministry, a total investment of Rs 1,89,256 crore has been approved in the past two years under smart cities project but nothing is visible on the ground. Similarly, Rs 77,640 crore has been sanctioned for improving water supply and basic amenities in urban areas under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT). Sources said that this has worried a lot to the minister as only two years have been left for the next general elections in 2019.
Sources said that after completed one month in office, the Minister has made it clear to all the senior officials of the Ministry. He also prioritised the outcomes to be monitored under each mission like the number of Waste-to-Wealth projects made functional and toilets built during the fortnight under Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) vis-à-vis targets State-wise, number of water supply connection provided under AMRUT , projects completed in each of the first batch of 20 smart cities, affordable houses sanctioned and built under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban), number of persons given skill training and placements enabled besides number of individual and group enterprises provided with subsidised bank loans under Deen Dayal Antyodaya-NUlM.
According to sources, Puri termed his first month in office as 'quite eventful' having announced the PPP Policy to promote private investments in affordable housing, directed a time bound review of FSI/FAR norms in 53 cities with a population of above on million each and State capitals and release of the New Metro Rail Policy.
He particularly referred to having addressed letters to thousands of Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) in the national capital urging them to ensure segregation of solid waste at source besides decentralised processing of such waste.