Urban News

Deccan Herald 20.02.2010

Inaugurating a workshop on government’s ‘Urban Development Policy-2009’ at SDM Business College on Friday, he said that the government has brought in the new system where the draft copy of the policy to be formulated is kept before the public platform for the people to hold discussion.

“The Urban Development Policy has matter pertaining to infrastructure, administration and finance and priority has been given to accumulation and equal distribution of resources,” he said and added that workshops of this kind have been held at Hubli-Dharwad, Mysore and Bangalore to gather public opinion on the draft.

Urban Development Secretary Shambhu Dayal Meena said that the discussions should not be held to see how the policy can be suited to Mangalore but it must be held with the aim of making people know their duties along with their rights.

Earlier delivering the keynote address, Dakshina Kannada District Deputy Commissioner V Ponnuraj said that the policy has not given enough importance to Dakshina Kannada when compared to Hubli-Dharwad, Mysore and Bangalore. He said that if Dakshina Kannada is compared with Hubli-Dharwad in terms of development than the pace of the development, it is much more and faster than Hubli Dharwad and hence more emphasis and priority must be given to DK district.

He said that the policy also speaks of scrapping off Urban Development Authority and handing over the responsibility to District Planning Committee.

“The Committee takes care of rural development per se and handing over the responsibility of urban development to the Committee will not be advisable because the problems of rural areas are diametric to that of urban areas,” he said and added that handing over urban development committee will only add to burden and will not yield any result.

He said that the Committee at present is headed by ZP Chief, who will too not have much of experience handling urban problems. Instead, DC suggested that the Committee must be headed by either the District Incharge Minister or the Mayor of the respective Municipal bodies.

Delivering the presidential address, Mayor M Shanker Bhat said that the very essence of 73rd ammendment of decentralisation of power has not been implemented sincerely. “A Mayor headed councils have come to existence in Muncipal bodies but do they have the power to make decision. The Muncipal bodies have to look at the Government for every small decision. Where is the decentralisation of power happening,” he questioned.

MLA U T Khader, MCC Commissioner Dr K N Vijayaprakash, IIM Professor Dr Ashwin Mahesh, Deputy Mayor Rajani Dugganna, SDMC Business College Principal Dr Devaraj and others were present.

Business Line 20.02.2010

Draft policy favours Karnataka Urban Renewal Mission

Our Bureau

Mangalore, Feb. 19

The Draft Urban Development Policy for Karnataka has suggested the establishment of the Karnataka Urban Renewal Mission to focus on infrastructure development in small and medium cities.

Speaking at a workshop on draft Urban Development Policy for Karnataka here on Friday, Dr A. Ravindra, Advisor to the Karnataka Chief Minister on Urban Affairs, said that not all the cities in the State are eligible for funds under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Renewal Urban Mission (JNNRUM) scheme. In such a situation, a Karnataka Urban Renewal Mission would help give proper attention to those cities that are now outside the ambit of JNNRUM.

The establishment of Karnataka Urban Renewal Mission is taken up as agenda for action in the draft Urban Development Policy for Karnataka.

The draft policy has also suggested the establishment of metropolitan planning committee for Bangalore, Hubli-Dharwad and Mysore, and district planning committees in other areas.

Replying to a suggestion at the workshop on the need for such a committee for Mangalore, Dr Ravindra said coastal planning committee, including the urban areas of coastal Karnataka, can also be thought of.

REGULATORY AUTHORITY

He said that the draft policy has also suggested the need for the establishment of Urban Services Regulatory Authority.

Stating that services such as drinking water supply, sanitation, solid waste management and transport are the key areas for urban development, Dr Ravindra said a regulatory authority is needed for these services.

Apart from providing services to the poor on a subsidized basis, it is important that an appropriate mechanism should be developed for recovering the cost of water supply, he said.

He said that increase in the number of vehicles on the roads has created problems such as parking and other facilities.

Considering this, the draft policy has suggested the preparation of city mobility plans for all class I cities.

Dr Ravindra said that two such workshops to elicit the opinions of public on the draft urban policy have already been held at Mysore and Hubli. Mangalore is the third city to host such a workshop.

The suggestions of the public will be taken into consideration while coming out with the final Urban Development Policy, he added.

The Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner, Mr V. Ponnuraj, and the Mangalore Mayor, Mr M. Shankar Bhat, were present on the occasion.