Kalam for synchronised development in Gujarat

At the Vibrant Gujarat Urban Summit, organised to encourage comprehensive urban development in the state, Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Gujarat, expressed his intentions to create a first-of-its-kind seismology institute in the state to predict earthquakes along with plans to connect the tier-II and tier III cities in the state with the best infrastructure facilities.

The two-day summit, which kickstarted with the inaugural address of President APJ Abdul Kalam saw the presence of other dignitaries like Governor Nawal Kishore Sharma, Narendra Modi, and M Ramchandran, urban development secretary, government of India.

Delivering his welcome address, Ramchandran said,"Gujarat has been one of the first states to have successfully begun implementation of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) guidelines with the country's first Bus Rapid Transport System (BRTS) having been sanctioned for Ahmedabad. JNNURM requires states to undertake new reforms like restructuring property tax of the urban sector."

Ramchandran added that around 63 cities have been covered under JNNURM's Focused Policy Support. Narendra Modi said public participation was the only way for integrated urban development.

"For our urban sector to develop, people's participation has to be encouraged. A city is built by the citizens. We have therefore thrown open our urban policies on the internet for public debate and deliberation and the government encourages citizens to come up with suggestions. This year we aim to promote Gujarat as a Nirmal Gujarat (clean Gujarat) and we will need all the public support that we could get," said Modi.

Kalam said that there could be no development without focus on employment generation. He raised the question of constant migration of workers from rural sector to urban.

"A city can only develop properly when the cluster of rural areas surrounding it are also developed. Otherwise, there would be an increased pressure on the urban sector. Even the location of urban slums need to be linked with job opportunities in their vicinities, said Kalam. He also stressed the need for synchronised development of rural and urban areas.

"In the name of urban development our rural culture should not be ignored," pointed Kalam.

Congratulating the state government for its initiatives Kalam pointed out that the social factors like human development index, where Gujarat ranked sixth in 2001, was a grey area that needed to be improved.