Venkaiah to meet municipal heads of southern states (Lead, Changing dateline)

Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu will Monday interact with municipal commissioners of southern cities, as the government launches a series of "consultative workshops" to involve civic officials in the implementation of new urban development and housing schemes.

The first such workshop for municipal commissioners of southern Indian cities with population of more than a lakh will be held here Monday, before the government launches its new initiatives on urban development and housing.

Municipal commissioners from over 70 cities and officials of urban development departments from the five southern states - Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh - and the union territory of Puducherry will attend the first workshop, a union government statement said Sunday.

"Implementation issues pertaining to the schemes viz., Swachh Bharat Mission, urban renewal of 500 cities/towns, housing for all by 2022, skill development and self-employment of urban poor under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana and capacity building of urban local bodies will be discussed in detail," it said.

Naidu - also minister for housing and urban poverty alleviation - will speak on the objectives of the new initiatives in the urban sector.

He will also share his concerns about the state of urban governance and innovations and improvements required to achieve the objectives in the context of central government's emphasis on urban development.

Naidu decided to reach out to the municipal commissioners after a national conclave of urban development ministers of states.

In the first workshop Monday, Naidu will nominate nine 'Swachh Bharat' ambassadors each from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

They are K. Kavita and Galla Jayadev (parliamentarians), V.V.S. Laxman, Shivlal Yadav, Pullela Gopichand and Koneru Humpy (sports), Pawan Kalyan, S.P. Balasubramaniam, Nitin, Suddala Ashok Teja and Amala Nagarjuna (films), B.V.R. Mohan Reddy, J.A. Chowdary, J. Rameswara Rao and G.V.K. Reddy (industry ) Gopi Chand and G.S. Rao (medical) and Vemuri Radhakrishna (media).