Naveen seeks early release of central funds to start BRTS

The amount sought by the state govt for early release is pegged at Rs 153 cr, which is one-third of the total additional assistance allocation of Rs 460 cr

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today urged the Union minister for Urban Development, Venkaiah Naidu to release the first installment of additional central assistance under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM) to enable the state to undertake Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) in Bhubaneswar.

The amount sought by the state government for early release is pegged at Rs 153 crore, which is one-third of the total additional assistance allocation of Rs 460 crore.

Patnaik, who met Naidu in New Delhi today, told the Union minister that the ongoing JnNURM programme, in its present form, denies freedom to the states to identify appropriate projects for different cities and is biased against development of urban infrastructure in small and medium towns.

He stated that major benefits under JnNURM accrue to states with large cities having a greater capacity to absorb funds and not to states with smaller cities like Odisha.

Suggesting that JnNURM should be made state specific with complete freedom to the states for identifying and implementing the urban projects, he said, the basic entitlement of each state may be worked out based on different parameters such as urban population and performance grants linked to urban reforms. Chief minister suggested that the additional central assistance linked to reforms under JnNURM may be modified to make it uniform 10 per cent in case of both the components of Urban Infrastructure Governance (UIG) and Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small & Medium Towns (UIDSSMT).

He urged Naidu to release the state's claims amounting to Rs 104 crore under UIG and Rs 39 crore under UIDSSMT.

Chief minister drew the attention of the Union minister to the pending proposals of the state and requested for early sanctions.

The pending proposals include water supply projects for Berhampur Phase-II, Storm Water Drainage project for Jajpur Town and city bus service for Rourkela-Biramitrapur and Bolangir-Patnagarh under JnNURM.

For inclusion in the Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY), Patnaik impressed upon the Union minister for coverage of additional 35 cities under the progarmme. Only six cities of Odisha are covered under the RAY now.