Urban News

The Hindu 30.07.2009

Media barred from JNNURM review meetings in Mysore

Special Correspondent

MYSORE: The authorities have barred the media from covering the review meetings under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

The reason is distortion of facts and misrepresenting views to mislead the public.

The scribes were barred from covering the weekly JNNURM review meeting on Wednesday and the officials said that a decision in this regard had been taken as the media was sensationalising the proceedings while ignoring the crux of the issue.

The main grouse of the officials was that the project review meetings were not being properly highlighted and the officials were being projected in bad light which was sending wrong signals to the public.

The ban on media’s presence comes when there is a demand for greater transparency and free flow of information about the work in progress under JNNURM.

When some presspersons protested, Mayor Purushottam tried to prevail upon the officials who were upset over “misrepresentation of facts”. In fact, a circular was issued to the scribes present explaining why their presence was not necessary and they were asked to sign a register acknowledging the receipt.

When contacted, Deputy Commissioner P. Manivannan, who is also the special officer in-charge of JNNURM, said they would review the decision or make alternative arrangements to brief the media.

The Hindu 30.07.2009

JNNURM: officials told to prepare revised proposal

Staff Correspondent

Raising an issue: Janata Dal (Secular) councillor Hazrat Ali Doddamani making a point to Mayor Viranna Savadi during a meeting of the Hubli Dharwad Municipal Corporation council on Wednesday.

HUBLI: Mayor of Hubli-Dharwad Viranna Savadi on Wednesday directed the officials to prepare a revised proposal of projects to be taken up under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) at the earliest.

The Mayor asked in-charge Commissioner R.N. Shanbhag to prepare the revised proposal after discussions on the issue during the general body meeting of the corporation on Wednesday.

The Mayor said that under the JNNURM, Hubli-Dharwad was eligible for assistance to the tune of nearly Rs. 600 crore and asked the officials to prepare the proposal in accordance with the revised guidelines of the JNNURM.

Earlier, leader of the Opposition Deepak Chinchore, who along with Yasin Haveripet had led a delegation of the HDMC to New Delhi, submitted a report to the council on his meeting with Union Minister Jaipal Reddy. The Minister told the delegation that Hubli-Dharwad was in the priority list among the 28 select cities in various States that are waiting to be included under the JNNURM.

Ultimately the discussion on the issue concluded with the Mayor’s direction to the officials. Although the HDMC had prepared a proposal earlier of various projects to be taken up under JNNURM, the twin cities were left out of the list of the selected cities on technical grounds.

60,000 illegal buildings

Raising the issue of the recent decision of the State Government on regularisation of unauthorised structures and layouts, the former mayor Pandurang Patil said that there were around 60,000 such buildings in the twin cities and the corporation should make use of the opportunity to regularise them. Ashok Jadhav said that there was still confusion on whether all these 60,000 buildings were on agricultural land or non-agricultural lands and first this issue should be looked into. Mr. Chinchore suggested taking a delegation to Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, who is scheduled to visit Hubli on August 10, to get certain issues on the scheme sorted out.

The issue of alleged irregularities in entering into memorandum of understanding with private agencies for development and maintenance of medians led to heated discussion in the council after Janata Dal (Secular) councillor Hazrat Ali Doddamani raised it at the meeting.

Mr. Doddamani alleged that laws had been flouted while entering into such MoUs and as a result the Corporation had lost revenue. He complained that the officials had not given the proper information sought by him and demanded action against them.