The Times of India 25.09.2009
JNNURM team satisfied with SATIS
The highly publicised Station Area Traffic Improvement Scheme (SATIS) of the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) has recently earned a pat of the central government owned Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). The Mission has expressed its satisfaction over the SATIS as well as other civic projects that have been carried out with financial aid from the JNNURM.
A high profile team of officials from the union owned urban mission visited the city on Tuesday to take stock of the projects carried out by TMC with the financial aid from the mission. The SATIS was on top of the agenda of the high profile visit. The traffic improvement project is the first of its kind anywhere in the country and the mission is keen to fund such projects elsewhere in the country to boost movement of traffic.
The Kala Dalan and Kala Kendra cultural and social promotion projects of the corporation completed recently were also on the list of the projects to be visited by the officials of the central mission. The two projects were also part funded by the New Delhi based mission as part of social and cultural development of Thane.
Ms Ishar Ahluwalia, the regional financial head of the JNNURM led the team of non-technical cadre central officials to the city. The team wanted to make sure that the projects funded by the mission had been completed satisfactorily and that the funds provided by the mission had been sued for the specified purpose only.
A group of TMC officers led by civic commissioner Nandkumar Jantre accompanied the JNNURM team to the site KD Lalla, the City Engineer (CE) as well as the director of all JNNURM funded projects in TMC limits was also a part of the team along with his subordinates from the civic Public Works Department (PWD).
The team visited SATIS and commissioner Jantre as well as briefed the officials about the 1.2 kilometres long deck cum multi arm flyover project. The officials expressed their satisfaction over the unique projects of its kind. The officials visited the two other projects during their day-long visit and expressed their satisfaction over the two projects as well.
The positive remark of the JNNURM officials for the JNNURM approved projects has pleased the civic administration. The remarks prompted Jantre to seek more funds from the central mission to carry out major traffic and infrastructural development projects in the fast growing city of Thane. The JNNURM officials have assured the TMC of full co-operation for developmental projects in future as well.
Interestingly SATIS has been the centre of keen attraction for public organizations seeking improvement in urban mobility. The interest is due to the fact that despite the development of infrastructure the average speed of motor vehicles in major urban cities especially in areas situated around the railway stations is hardly between 20 30 kilometres per hour.
The central government has embarked upon a major project to improve the urban mobility by offering huge sums of money for construction of roads, flyovers and bypasses for the purpose. The government has also appointed M/s Lee and Associates, a Canadian firm to carry out studies for the improvement of urban mobility in mega cities and the city of Thane if one of them.
