The state government has plans to upgrade 160 civic bodies.
Inaugurating
a two-day workshop on ‘Rajiv Awas Yojane’ here on Monday, Urban
Development Minister Vinay Kumar Sorake said an order to this effect
would be issued soon.
He said there are proposals before the
department to upgrade gram panchayats to town panchayats, town
panchayats to town municipal councils, TMCs to city municipal councils
and CMCs to city corporation based on population.
He said he had
toured the state in the last three months and the conditions of the
slum-dwellers was pathetic, as the civic bodies had failed to provide
infrastructure facilities.
Expressing regret that the state
government had failed to utilise the Central grants meant for providing
infrastructure facilities to people living in urban areas, he said: “We
are far behind in utilising the funds compared to Maharashtra and Tamil
Nadu.”
In the last three months, his department had submitted
proposals under several Union-sponsored schemes to the tune of over Rs
10,000 crore, he said and directed the implementing agencies to utilise
it properly.
He also said: “The government is planning to set up a revolving fund to support civic bodies which are not financially sound.”
