UP launches urban scheme

UP Chief Minister Mayawati, on the eve of the first death anniversary of the Bahujan Samaj Party's founder Kanshiram, announced a mega scheme for urban development here today.

Mayawati had recently launched the rural development scheme in the name of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar. The scheme was approved by the Cabinet, which had an unscheduled meeting here today.

BSP has organised a huge rally "Savdhan Raho Aage Badho" ( Be alert and move forward) rally here on October 9, to commemorate the death anniversary of Kanshiram.

A committee in each district headed by the district magistrate would be set up to monitor the implementation of the "Manyawar Shri Kanshiramji Shahri Samagra Vikas Yojna". This was announced by the chief minister in a press conference here today.

"One-fourth of the population of the state lives in urban areas and 40 per cent of the urban population lacked civic amenities...in the absence of basic facilities the situation is on the downfall," Mayawati said. She claimed that the government was of the opinion that the uplift of the urban areas was incomplete till the time the poor were not lifted.

"Under the new scheme, people with a poor financial background would get basic fundamental amenities in the urban areas so that they could join the mainstream...the wards of nagar nigam and nagar palika parishad areas would be considered as a unit of development these wards would be saturated with infrastructural facilities and various programmes of social security," she added.

A total of 16 programmes would be launched as part of the scheme in a bid to implement the programme on a fast pace, the state government has also decided to set up a Shahri Samagra Vikas department.

While Rs 2,500 crore will be spent during the current fiscal, Rs 15,000 crore will be utilised on the scheme in the next five years, the CM said.

In a bid to weed out illegitimate beneficiaries of schemes run for families living below poverty line (BPL), the Cabinet also endorsed a proposal to conduct a fresh survey to prepare a new list.

The fresh survey would be completed in the next three years and would be conducted jointly by rural department, food and civil supplies department and revenue department for better transparency.

Until the new list is issued, the BPL and "antyodya" families would continue to enjoy the usual benefits.

"Since the rural department and the food and civil supplies department had identified the BPL families separately, several discrepancies in the earlier list were found...during the identification. While some eligible families were left out, those not entitled for the benefits were included," she said.

To a poser, the CM clarified that the new surveys would be conducted on the basis of the guidelines issued by the Centre. The government has prepared a 13-point assessment format for the identification of BPL families.

On the basis of the new survey, a list in descending order will be prepared to identify the BPL families.

According to a government estimate, UP has 1.06 crore families living under the BPL.

The list prepared after fresh surveys will be presented before an open meeting of gram sabha for greater transparency. Senior government officers would attend the public meetings.