PANAJI, May 12 -- Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs, Manohar Lal, in a pivotal meeting with Chief Minister of Goa Pramod Sawant and Minister for Urban Development, Town & Country Planning, Health, Forest, Vishwajit Rane, assessed the implementation and progress of various urban development initiatives and state projects.
The meeting was held on Wednesday in Panaji with some urban schemes coming under the ambit of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).
One of the notable points of discussion was big urban programmes like the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation & Urban Transformation (AMRUT and AMRUT 2.0), Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Urban (PMAY-U and PMAY-U 2.0), Smart Cities Mission (SCM), Swachh Bharat Mission - Urban (SBM-U and SBM-U 2.0), Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM), and the PM Street Vendor's AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi).
One of the primary demands made by the Chief Minister was for special financial support towards Goa's ambitious 24x7 water supply scheme, "Drink from Tap" (DfT), at an estimated cost of Rs 652.61 crore.
The Chief Minister mooted at least a financial support of Rs 326.30 crore for increasing water sources, creating infrastructure, reclaiming existing networks, and undertaking pilot projects, such as smart metering and SCADA-based monitoring systems, under AMRUT 2.0.
The Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs welcomed the proposal and agreed to consider Goa's request for support for the DfT Scheme, an important project to enhance water supply in the state.
Additionally, the Chief Minister also stressed Goa's peculiar urban issues, especially the large load on civic infrastructure owing to the large inflow of tourists.
He appealed for the state to be taken as a special case for augmented and accelerated support under AMRUT 2.0 and SBM-U 2.0. On this, the Minister instructed concerned officials to initiate required policy revisions to fit in the requirements of tourist states such as Goa.
In keeping with cooperative federalism, Centre and State are working hand-in-hand to hasten important urban development schemes, resolving problems and clearing outstanding issues to facilitate sustainable urban growth. The Union minister stressed the need for enhancing infrastructure through planned approach, public-private partnership, and emphasis on sustainable urbanisation.
The minister further emphasised the need for the completion of outstanding works regarding water supply, service connections, sewer connections, and sanitation works under AMRUT and SBM. He requested the state to speed up tendering of works for community toilets, public toilets, solid waste management systems, and sewage treatment plants (STPs) and promote citizen awareness of PMAY-U 2.0 benefits for affordable housing.
In addition, the minister directed the state to profile the street vendors under PM SVANidhi, sanitise eligible loan applications, and enhance women's involvement in such initiatives. He also suggested proposals to be made for the PM-eBus Sewa Scheme and discussed the progress under the Smart Cities Mission and DAY-NULM.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.