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Minister for bringing twin cities, Mangalore under JNNURM

Wednesday, 02 December 2009 02:09 administrator
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The Hindu 02.12.2009

Minister for bringing twin cities, Mangalore under JNNURM

Staff Correspondent

Union Government is likely to announce modified guidelines on Thursday

HUBLI: Urban Development Minister Suresh Kumar said on Monday that bringing Hubli-Dharwad and Mangalore under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) would be his first priority.

Addressing presspersons after holding a review meeting at the Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation office here, Mr. Suresh Kumar said that the Union Government had announced that guidelines would be modified to bring more cities under the mission.“The Union Government is likely to announce the modified guidelines on December 3, which marks the first anniversary of the mission. Bringing Hubli-Dharwad and Mangalore under the mission will be my first priority,” he said. Referring to the shortage of staff in the Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation, the Minister said that all the municipal corporations in the State were facing a similar problem and the department had sent a proposal for filling 129 key posts in the corporations.

Steps

He said that steps would also be taken to fill the vacant posts gradually. The Minister said that he would immediately look into the proposals for construction of over bridges and other works aimed at easing traffic congestion in the twin cities.

Mandatory

To a question, the Minister said though rainwater harvesting had been made mandatory, there was a need for creating greater awareness on it.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 02 December 2009 02:11
 

Minister slams civic body

Wednesday, 02 December 2009 02:00 administrator
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The Hindu 02.12.2009

Minister slams civic body

Staff Correspondent

It will be issued a show-cause notice

 

Minister unhappy that funds have not been utilised

He terms it the ‘worst’ city corporation

Belgaum: The Belgaum City Corporation appears to be facing a fresh threat of being superseded.

The Minister for Urban Development and Parliamentary Affairs, S. Suresh Kumar, directed the authorities concerned to issue a show-cause notice to the corporation.

Depending upon the reply of the corporation, the Government would take appropriate action, he said.

He was reviewing the progress done by corporation here on Tuesday.

The Minister, who was disappointed over the failure of the corporation to take up any development work and to utilise Rs. 100 crore sanctioned by the Government in the last budget, dubbed it the “worst” City Corporation among all the city corporations in the State. Holding the elected representatives and the officials responsible for not showing any interest in development works or preventing unauthorised constructions, he said although the Government had sanctioned Rs.100 crore last year, the corporation had not utilised the funds so far.

The action plan had been framed after considerable delay and work taken up only recently, which was in sharp contrast with many other corporations which had fully utilised funds (under Special Development plan for City Corporations) and had been demanding more.

The Belgaum civic body had not utilised even 50 per cent of its own budgetary funds.

He was stunned to learn from the corporation Commissioner S.G. Patil that there were 4,886 unauthorised constructions in the city and 491 structures built in violation of the regulations. At least 52 commercial complexes had not provided parking facilities. He was apparently irked over the attitude of the corporation officials to such problems even when they were highlighted in the media.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 02 December 2009 02:04
 

MCD comes up with proposal to have dedicated lanes

Monday, 30 November 2009 12:56 administrator
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The Times of India 30.11.2009

MCD comes up with proposal to have dedicated lanes

Ruhi Bhasin, TNN 30 November 2009, 04:47am IST

NEW DELHI: In an attempt to decongest S P Mukherjee Marg the main link to Old Delhi railway station the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has come up with a proposal to have dedicated lanes for motorized and non-motorized vehicles, hawkers etc. A pedestrian plaza will also be created along the stretch. The work is expected to be completed before Commonwealth Games 2010.

The earlier plan of creating an elevated road to decongest the area had been shelved this year after it met with stiff resistance from the heritage experts. The civic agency had proposed making an elevated road from Lotian Bridge to Novelty Cinema in 2007. However, the construction of this road was disrupting heritage structures in the area.

Said an MCD official: "To decongest S P Mukherjee Marg, we have proposed segregating non-motorized vehicles like hand carts, cycle rickshaws from motorized-vehicles. Wider footpaths will be made for the convenience of pedestrians besides creating pedestrian plazas and constructing subways in the area. Junctions will be improved to ensure smoother traffic flow. Specific areas will be allotted to hawkers to prevent spill-over on the road.''

The project is expected to cost Rs 15-20 crore and work is expected to begin soon. The work will be carried out on 2.2 km stretch and starts from the ring road in the eastern end and stretches up to Pilli Kothi at the western end.

Streetscaping of this stretch will also be carried out. Improved streetlighting, better civic amenities like dustbins, public urinals will be ensured and more trees will be planted along this stretch.

Said an MCD official: "A parking lot will be created at S P Mukherjee Marg for buses, cycle rickshaws, autorickshaws, private vehicles etc. The development of S P Mukherjee Marg will be integrated with work taking place all around Shahjahanabad.'' At present there is just one road going from Novelty Cinema to Lothian Bridge which sees heavy flow of traffic with encroachment of hawkers and cycle rickshaws. The average speed on this road is 9 to 12 km.

Besides, MCD is also supposed to construct a bus plaza at Old Delhi railway station where 75 buses can be accommodated at any given point of time. An underground parking with a capacity of 800 cars will be constructed below the plaza.
Last Updated on Monday, 30 November 2009 13:01
 
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