Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Friday said that the implementation of the five new urban missions in Chhattisgarh launched over the last two years have been going on well in the State.
Addressing a news conference here after reviewing the five urban missions alongwith Chief Minister Raman Singh at a high-level meeting, the Union Minister said that the Ministry has brought in a major difference in its approach to urban development over the last two years.
He said that the approach includes citizen participation in urban planning and management, objective and competition-based selection of cities under new missions, preparation of comprehensive city-wise action plans for addressing infrastructure deficit, empowering State and city governments in project formulation and evaluation, enhancing resource flows to city governments, incentivizing implementation of core urban reforms and ranking of cities, on various aspects to promote a spirit of healthy competition among cities.
"We have held detailed discussions on the progress of 'Swachch Bharat Mission' in the cities and towns of Chhattisgarh. The impressive progress of the State on sanitation and solid waste management are noteworthy", Naidu said.
Under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, Chhattisgarh was one of the first States to get sanctions of 33,866 dwelling units and has already completed almost about 15,000 of them.The State will have a demand of about 2.25 to 2.50 lakh dwelling units. The State proposes to take up the entire demand in 2017-18 and 2018-19, the Minister stated.
He said that Chhattisgarh also has the distinction of giving the highest State share of Rs 13,000 to beneficiaries for construction of individual household toilets to supplement the Central share of Rs 4,000 per 'IHHl' under Swachch Bharat Mission.
Naidu said, not only that, Chhattisgarh through its 'Har Ghar Nal, Har Ghar Shaulachalaya' scheme is also the first State to ensure that every individual household toilet is provided with water supply connection, he said.
In the 'Swachch Survekshan 2017,' three cities of Chhattisgarh (among 38 awardee cities) were awarded for their cleanliness efforts, Naidu said.
The notable achievements by Chhattisgarh also included awarding contracts for projects costing Rs 974 cr. Another Rs 590 cr worth of projects will be awarded within the next one month, he said.
Naidu said that Chhattisgarh has been at the forefront of taking advantage of the Centre's thrust on urban development and improving the quality of life in cities and towns.
He also handed over the sanction orders of Rs 45 cr to Chief Minister Raman Singh, under the various missions of the Union Ministry of Urban Development.
The Union Minister also handed over ODF certificates to three Municipal Corporations, viz., Ambikapur, Bhilai and Dhamtari.
The Minister also announced the commissioning of a 100 KW high power medium wave solid state digital-ready transmitter in Jagdalpur which would beam the signal of AIR Jagdalpur to a radius of 200 km.