Centre commits Rs 2,070 cr under AMRUT for 31 Guj cities

The Centre has committed a sum of Rs 2,070 crore for the development of 31 cities in Gujarat under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) mission, Independent Rajya Sabha MP Parimal Nathwani said today.

In a release issued today, he said the 31 cities included Ahmedabad, Dwarka, Jamnagar, Gandhinagar, Bhavnagar, Bhuj, Godhra, Porbandar, Rajkot, Surat and Vadodara.

The issue was raised in the Rajya Sabha by Nathwani and he had sought a reply from Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Housing and Urban Affairs.

In his reply, tabled in the House, Puri said that the Union government had committed financial assistance of Rs 35,989.70 crore for development of 500 cities nationwide under AMRUT, of which Rs 2,069.96 crore was for 31 cities in Gujarat.

The total allocation for the 31 cities is Rs 4,884.42 crore, the reply stated, adding that the rest of the amount would be pooled in by the Gujarat government.

It said that Rs 414 crore had already been released by the Union government to Gujarat.

The minister's statement informed that as part of the AMRUT mission in Gujarat, projects worth Rs 2,140.55 crore were under implementation, Rs 702.77 crore worth of projects have had their Detailed Project Reports approved while DPRs of Rs 2041.10 crore worth of projects was being prepared.

Explaining the mechanism of funding, the minister's statement informed that, under AMRUT, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs only approved State Annual Action Plans (SAAPs) submitted by states and Union Territories while individual projects were chosen by the respective states and UTs.

It said that SAAPs worth Rs 77,640 crore had been approved by the ministry for the entire duration of the AMRUT mission.