Urban dev ministry draws flak for CWG projects delay in 2010

2010 was not a memorable year for the Urban Development Ministry as delays in completion of Commonwealth Games projects virtually became an albatross round its neck.

Nothing went right for the nodal ministry for coordinating the execution of all Games-related projects.

As head of the Empowered Group of Ministers for the timely execution of Games projects including the opening and closing ceremonies, Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy faced the flak for the mess in construction of stadia and the Games Village.

The preparatory work for the sporting extravaganza kept the ministry busy for better part of the 2010. Despite the regular review meetings chaired by Reddy, the works moved in a snail's pace failing deadlines.

However, after the Games, Reddy cracked the whip on EMAAR MGF, the developers of the Games Village, who erred on several counts. The ministry directed the DDA to confiscate the bank guarantee of Rs 183 crore furnished by EMAAR MGF for its failure to honour the contract.

The ministry is expected to extend the Delhi (Special Provision) Act, 2009 to prevent demolitions of shops in residential colonies. The law was in force till December 31, 2010 and a fresh amendment is required to extend it further.

During 2010, the ministry took initiatives to create focus on sanitation by launching sanitation ratings of 423 cities.

Along with the Human Resource Development Ministry, it jointly launched the National School Sanitation Initiative with the objective of bringing about much needed behavioural change which is a key to success of any sanitation-related initiative.

The ministry's flagship programme Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) completed five years of its implementation and more funds were released for urban infrastructure projects under the scheme this year.

Since inception till November 2010, 526 projects at a cost of Rs 60,215.44 crore were approved under the Urban Infrastructure and Governance under JNNURM.

The ministry succeeded in introducing reforms in many urban local bodies through JNNURM across the country.

According to the ministry, 29 states and union territories have repealed Urban Land Ceilings Act, 21 states have constituted District Planning Committees under the scheme. Also 42 urban local bodies have shifted to double entry based accounting system.

The year 2010 also saw the ministry finalising a proposal to seek USD 1 billion loan from the World Bank to develop infrastructure in urban areas.

In order to support better monitoring and reporting of service levels in cities, the Ministry also has initiated an exercise to extend Service Level Benchmarks in over 1700 cities.

Aiming at ensuring complete transparency in allotment of General Pool Residential Accommodation, faster rotation of housing stock and to provide more convenience to the applicants an Automated System of Allotment (ASA) for New Delhi has been launched by the Directorate of Estates under the ministry.

The year also saw the approval of the amendment in Section-2 of Public Premises (eviction of unauthorised occupants) Act, 1971 in order to bring the properties of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and other metro rails and New Delhi Municipal Council within the definition of public premises, which will enable eviction of unauthorised occupants from these properties without delay.

The Bill will now be introduced in the Budget session of Parliament.