HYDERABAD, Oct 21:
India needs to do more work towards urbanisation and improve infrastructure as it may witness another 300 million people living in cities and towns in the coming years, Planning Commission member Arun Maira said here today.
The second phase of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, expected to be launched in a few months, will focus more on issues such as urban capacity building and planning at local levels, Maira said.
“It is very clear that India has not done good enough job yet in managing the process of urbanisation. There are two reasons for this. One is that we as country have not paid much attention to urbanisation…”
“The second reason is we have not got good enough approach to manage urbanisation in this country,” Maira said in his address at 6th ‘EuroIndia Summit’ on greening cities.
He said in the coming years, India could witness 300 million more people living in cities and towns.
Later, talking to reporters, Maira said the UPA government’s flagship programme JNNURM has shown a methodology to implement such massive schemes.
“There are three or four principal modifications in the second phase and we are emphasising 3 or 4 things which will be for better management,” he said.
He said the second round of programme will focus more on planning at local level, capacity building, and urban poor and non-metro cities.
Minister of State for Urban Development Deepa Dasmunsi, in her address, said the concept of ‘Green Cities’ is not about planting trees but a city designed with adequate consideration of environmental impact.
AP Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development M Maheedhar Reddy, Joao Cravinho, Ambassador, Delegation of the EU to India, Poul V Jensen, Director, European Business Technology Centre (EBTC) and Colette Mathur, President, The EuroIndia Centre, were among others who spoke in the summit organised by CII, EBTC and The EuroIndia Centre.
It may be recalled that Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath had earlier said that the USD 40 billion second phase of the urban renewal mission would be carried out over the next five years as India works to cover its infrastructure deficit throughout the country and manage massive urbanisation programmes. (PTI)
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