Urban Update Feb 2015

All India Institute of Local Self Government

RNI No DELENG/2014/57384

UrbanUpdate Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

Budget 2015-16

Cities’ aspirations

Rapid urban growth in India demands more power for ULBs to address the challenges cities and towns are facing today…

Volume I - Issue X

february 2015

Urban Dialoges For a better Mumbai

Curious case of 74th Amendment

Rs 100

ISSN 2349-6266

Community Based Interventions

Professional Empowerment Project Management

Advisory Services Customised Training

Knowledge Management Capacity Building Information, Education and Communication (IEC)

Policy Research

All India Institute of Local Self Government No. 6, F-Block, Bandra Kurla Complex, TPS Road-12, Bandra-East Mumbai-400051, Maharashtra Tel.No.: +91-22-26571713, 26571714, 26571715, Fax: +91-22-2657 2286, Email : contact@aiilsg.org

All India Institute of Local Self Government Sardar Patel Bhavan, 22-23, Institutional Area, D Block, Pankha Road, Janakpuri, Delhi-110058 Ph No. 011-2852 1783 / 5465, Email. delhi@aiilsg.org

Urban

Dialogues Dialogues Next Pune matters Amonara City, Pune March 2015 Partners

Organising Team

Dr. Jatin Modi President AIILSG

Ranjit Chavan Director General AIILSG

Dr. M Ramachandran Former Secretary, UD GoI

Raj Liberhan Former Director IHC

Dr Sudhir Krishna Former Secretary, UD GoI

For speakers and sponsorship requirements, please contact: Lojy Thomas: + 91 98688 73850, lojy.thomas@yahoo.com Ravi Guru: + 91 98180 98411, raavi.guru@gmail.com

www.dialogues.urbanupdate.in

Inside

22

Inside Cover story

22 Curious case of 74th Amendment

The act aimed at strengthening ULBs but could not change much on ground 28 Empowering Local Governance

For cities’ urban productivity, enhancement of the ULBs is necessary 30 Cities will bloom if their politics flower

Cities require a strong political will to build themselves City Life

22 Mending life in ‘GB Road’

Delhi’s red-light district gets a new lease of life Urban Dialogues

26

For a better Mumbai The conference brings solutions to the civic problems of the economic capital

Special Feature

30

Investor’s summit turns into global business hub Creating a platform for global business development

Tech matters

36

Illuminating smart City planners need to focus on sustainable and smart lighting

Case study

36

Farming in cities Has the time of the urban agriculture really come in India?

vox pop

40 Overflowing heaps... anybody listening?

Piles of waste lay unattended in the national capital’s landfills Centre-Stage

40 Cities’ aspirations from Budget 2015-16

The Budget should help cities achieve and sustain their economical aspirations Urban Agenda

46 Sanitation needs community intervention

Pro-active community participation can make sanitation campaign a success RegularS

6 Newscan 11 City Brand 4

February 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

7 Pin Point 15 City Images

20 Numerograph

EDITORIAL

Dr Jatin Modi President-AIILSG Ranjit Chavan Editor-In-Chief & Publisher Director General-AIILSG, dgaiilsg@gmail.com Apresh C Mishra

ULBs must hold the urban reins

Managing Editor, apresh@urbanupdate.in Ashok Wankhade Consulting Editor, bhau@urbanupdate.in Lojy Thomas, Aiilsg Associate Editor, lojy@urbanupdate.in Prathiba Raju Assistant Editor, prathiba@urbanupdate.in Abhishek Pandey Principal Correspondent, abhishek@urbanupdate.in Jessy Iype Desk Editor & Reporter, jessy@urbanupdate.in Meenakshi Rajput Graphic Designer, meenakshi@urbanupdate.in Volume I - Issue X For Feedback & Information Write at info@urbanupdate.in Printed and published by Ranjit Chavan on behalf of All India Institute of Local Self Government. Printed at Cirrus Graphics Pvt Ltd B-61, Sector-67, Noida – 201301 Uttar Pradesh. Published at Sardar Patel Bhavan, 22-23, Institutional Area, D Block Pankha Road, Janakpuri, Delhi-58 Phone No. 011-2852 1783 / 5473 Despite careful selection of sources, no responsibility can be taken for accuracy. The magazine assumes no liability or responsibility of any kind in connection with the information thereof. All right reserved. Reproduction in

U

rban Local Bodies in the country do not have sufficient administrative and financial powers to run the city affairs.

They are either dependent on the central or the state government for the funds to execute development projects.

Urban settlements are growing at a fast pace. The Census 2011 data depicts that the urban population growth in the last decade was more than the rural population growth; this has happened for the first time in Indian history. The urban population expanded by around 90 million between 2001 and 2011, and is expected to grow by another 250 million by 2030. In the same period, even the numbers of towns in the country increased significantly.

It is apparently clear that cities will continue to grow whether this is planned or they simply spread their boundaries in an unplanned manner. As per the urban growth trend in India, urban expansion is likely to result in proliferation of more slums, if it is not planned properly. People would definitely move to cities in search of better livelihood and the cities would be home to low-income populations living in high densities without basic infrastructure.

To manage the affairs of the cities better, the urban governance need to have more powers that will authorize them in taking administrative decisions as per their requirements and generating more revenue from the available sources.

Governments in many developing countries have taken the initiative of developing policies to coordinate and manage the process of urbanisation in their respective countries. India too tried to empower local bodies by passing the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act in 1992 but the initiative did not bring desired results. Urban Local Bodies in the country are still suffering from lack of resources, inefficient manpower, financial crunch and other issue related to it.

It is the high time for the government to empower the municipal corporations as envisioned in the 74th CAA. The centre should make the implementation of the amendment act mandatory before they release funds for the city projects. Most of the states do have implemented the act by setting up finance commissions and election commissions that look after financial conditions of local bodies and their election process respectively. But the implementation across the states is not uniform in nature. If the India wishes to propel its engines of growth then it has to come up with a national urban policy that ensures more administrative and financial powers to urban local bodies.

whole or in part is strictly prohibited without written permission from the publisher.

Ranjit Chavan dgaiilsg@gmail.com

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2015

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NEWSCAN

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NEWSCAN

India, US to set up task force for three Smart Cities India and the USA will set up a task force for each of the three smart cities — Visakhapatnam, Allahabad, Ajmer — for formulating action plans by April

NEW DELHI: India and the USA have decided to set up a task force for jointly developing Allahabad, Ajmer and Vishakhapatnam as Smart Cities with a mandate of preparing the roadmap within three months.

The decision was taken at a meeting between Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu and visiting Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, two days after the two countries signed pacts under which, the three cities will be developed as Smart Cities with the help of United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA).

According to the decision, the task force comprising officials from the Centre, state governments and USTDA will be constituted for three cities.

Each task force, will consist of three representatives each from Central and respective State Governments and the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), will discuss city specific features, project requirements

It is now time for both the sides to walk the talk by acting quick and concretising the agreements reached. Obama’s current visit to India has further raised the expectations for smart cities

“

M Venkaiah Naidu Minister of Urban Development

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and appropriate revenue models for enabling flow of investments etc., before suggesting action plans for developing them as smart cities, the statement added.

The road map will be worked out in three months to develop these cities as Smart City. Two days back, India signed three agreements with the USTDA for developing Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh, Ajmer in Rajasthan and Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. Seeds for the initiative were sown during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the US in September last year when the issue found mention in the joint statement.

Talking about that backdrop, Naidu said, “It is now time for both the sides to walk the talk by acting quick and concretising the agreements reached.”

Contending that the initiative has raised hopes about smart cities becoming a reality, the minister said that, “Obama’s current visit to India has even furthered these expectations.”

“Action is the need of the hour,” he added. Pritzker said the meeting was in pursuance of Obama’s directive to work on the economic dimension of strategic and commercial dialogue between him and Modi.

Issues relating to development of these cities were discussed in detail at a meeting between Naidu and the visiting US Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker.

USTDA and the State Governments of Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan had signed Memoranda of Understanding on January 25, for developing Visakhapatnam, Allahabad and Ajmer as smart cities.

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PIN POINT The country’s power sector is set for $250 billion investment across different segment.There is a lot of excitement among investors here about the ambitious target. We will not have any difficulty in realising the target of power to all by 2019

Andhra Pradesh offers great opportunities in areas ranging from technology to tourism to infrastructure to oil refineries. I appeal to all investors from all over the world.

My message is while looking at India, look at Andhra Pradesh

BUZZ

Prakash Javadekar @PrakashJavdekar

Piyush Goel Power and Coal Minister at the World Economic Forum

Barack Obama US President, during his visit to India

Elimination of subsidies in India, a country where one-third of people are still living in poverty conditions, is not possible, its not even desirable.But we have to rationalise our subsidies Arun Jaitley Finance Minister at the World Economic Forum

Chandrababu Naidu Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister at the World Economic Forum

Huge success story- Tiger population of India goes up by 30.5% to 2226 in 2014 as compared to 1706 in 2010. Now 70% of Tigers are in India

Here’s the truth: even if countries like the United States curb our emissions, if growing countries like India - with soaring energy needs - don’t also embrace cleaner fuels, then we don’t stand a chance against climate change

I love rajasthan...These deserts were my home at 52 degree during Pokhran.

They should lead the production of solar power for the nation APJ Abdul Kalam @APJAbdulKalam

For Rail over bridges, Rail will give OK in 60 days to help traffic movement.

Railway will work for total cleanliness with Municipal bodies Suresh Prabhu @sureshpprabhu

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Launching’AAPLE SARKAR’-an interactive web portal&mobile app for directly connecting with the people of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis @Dev_Fadnavis

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2015

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NEWSCAN

First transgender Mayor in CG

‘Urban jobs are ‘ticket’ to middle-class’

Madhu Kinnar becomes first eunuch to win mayor elections in Chattisgarh’s Raigarh Municipal Corporation, defeating his nearest rival from BJP.

New Delhi: The World Bank’s recently released report ‘Addressing Inequality in South Asia’ states that young people in India today enjoy far more ‘job mobility’ than their parents.

Where people are born or what their parents did for livings are no longer the sole arbiters of a person’s

UD Ministry approves freehold of 23 Nazul Estates in Delhi The Ministry of Urban Development approved the conversion to freehold of 23 Nazul Estates, whose term leases have expired, in the national capital.

Research centre on urban development inaugurated Pillai Group of Institutions of Mahatma Education Society inaugurated a research centre in collaboration with New York University’s Urban Expansion Observatory (UXO) at its centre in Panvel. prospects in life in the country.

Increasingly, boys from the younger generations are shifting out of their father’s occupations to move up in life.

The report finds that upward mobility has also been substantial among Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. But among the younger generation, occupational mobility is higher for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes than for

PMC allocates 11cr for intelligent traffic management Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) recently approved Rs 11cr for intelligent traffic management system. Civic officials said the ITMS is an integral part of the BRTS. Its key features will include a digital display of timetables and announcements of routes and stations.

Kannur becomes City Corporation Kerala Cabinet recently approved a proposal to form 28 new municipalities and 66 grama panchayats in the state, and upgrade Kannur municipality as a municipal corporation.

the general population. And there are no substantial differences between the mobility of Muslims and that of other groups.

Between 2004-05 and 2009-10, 15% of India’s population (or 40% of its poor) moved above the poverty line. What’s more, over 9% of India’s population (or about 11% of its poor and vulnerable) moved into the middle class during this period.

For poor, urban jobs have become a ticket to the middle class. Upward mobility is much stronger in cities, where even self-employment and casual work can lead to substantial gains in consumption; wage employment, however, does much better. Moving to a better job or moving from a rural to an urban area partially offsets the disadvantages which result from the circumstances a person was born into. And, while migration within the country gives men the opportunity to be substantially upwardly mobile, it also gives women greater opportunities to earn, mostly in paid domestic jobs, construction, retail or other services.

Pay Rs 5k for throwing waste in Yamuna NEW DELHI: In a welcoming move to save the dying river Yamuna from the clutches of waste and religious items being strewn in it, the National Green Tribunal has announced a fine of Rs 5,000 on individuals found polluting the river. A bench, headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar, banned dumping of construction material into the Yamuna while imposing a fine of Rs 50,000 on violators, and also restrained real estate developers from carrying out any construction work on floodplains under its “Mailey se Nirmal Yamuna Revitalisation Plan 2017”. The tribunal gave its nod to the recommendations by two committees, constituted by it, on restoration of the Yamuna banks and storm water drains (SWDs) in Delhi.

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NEWSCAN

Pune, Rajkot, Thane selected for Earth Hour City Challenge New Delhi: Pune, Rajkot and Thane are among the forty four finalists selected from countries around the world in this year’s Earth Hour City Challenge.

An expert jury will now review the actions and commitments reported by these cities and identify one sustainability leader per country for the National Earth Hour Capital Awards to be presented on April 9 in Seoul, South Korea. This year’s finalists represent 16 participating countries and were selected from a total of 163 entrants. These cities have all exhibited an impressive dedication to the creation of sustainable cities, and are clear contenders for the title Earth Hour Capital 2015.

SMC on mission dustbin

The WWF has been recognising cities for helping build a sustainable and safe energy future for the last three years.

“Cities are leading the way towards a fair, climate-resilient future. While national governments have largely talked about solutions, real changes are being created everyday from the solar streetlamps to the clean transit systems of the world’s cities,” said Carina Borgström-Hansson, Lead for WWF’s Earth Hour City Challenge.

The Earth Hour City Challenge works to mobilise action and support from cities in the global transition towards a sustainable future powered by renewable energy.

Beggars pay Rs.70 lakh fine in Mumbai local train MUMBAI: Beggars and hawkers in Mumbai’s local trains paid Rs. 70 lakh in the form of fines in 2014. The railway police claims it has collected fines of up to Rs. 1.89 crore in 2014, of which Rs.70 lakh came from beggars and hawkers. “We have collected 70 lakh rupees from unauthorized hawkers and beggars,” a, Railway Protection Force’s (RPF) Senior Divisional Security Commissioner. They beggars earn between Rs. 200 and 300 a day The RPF says it has acted against 64,000 people (including 18,000 beggars and hawkers) in 2014.

Bengaluru, the most liveable city in India London: Bengaluru is the most livable city in the country, followed by Mumbai and Chennai, according to the latest Location Ratings for expatriate living conditions published by the Employment Conditions Abroad (ECA) International.

“In India, Bangalore, ranked 171st globally, scores most favourably followed

by Mumbai and Chennai both ranked 182nd. New Delhi (204) is the least livable,” said the Location Ratings for expatriate living conditions published by the ECA International, which is provider of knowledge, information and technology for management and assignment of employees around the world. Along with Beijing, Delhi has the worst score for air quality not just

in Asia but globally, it said. Singapore is the most livable location in Asia and the world, followed by Sydney and Adelaide in Australia. “Good air quality, solid infrastructure, decent medical facilities, low crime and health risks have contributed to Singapore maintaining its position at the top of the global ranking for quality of living for Asian assignees,” said Lee Quane, Regional Director Asia, ECA International.

In mainland China, Shanghai, ranked 110th globally, is China’s most liveable city followed by Beijing (122). Scores have remained steady across most Chinese locations but Chongqing and Shenzhen saw the most improvement over the year.

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Surat Municipal Corporation launched ‘dustbin’ campaign under the Swach Bharat Abhiyan to encourage the usage of dustbins across the city, especially at the shops, restaurants, hotels, roadside eateries etc.

PCMC to allocate fund for mayor’s bunglow Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation would make provision for a bungalow for mayor in the 2015-16 budget. The decision was taken after having a meeting with the former mayors and other elected representatives.

LED lights to illuminate Agartala Agartala Municipal Corporation (AMC) signed an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) to put up LED (Light Emitting Diode) lights in the entire city.

HC fumes over inaction on illegal hoardings

Coming down heavily on the state government, the Bombay High Court said there was “no implementation at all” of its directions on removing illegal hoardings by the municipal corporations in the state.

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NEWSCAN

Sanitation based ranking of cities by March: Naidu NGT tells IMC to chalk out plans for cleaning National Green Tribunal (NGT) directed the Indore Municipal Corporation to chalk out a monthly plan for cleaning, stopping flow of sewerage and removal of encroachments and submit the progress report.

EDMC Mayor meets Rajnath to seek financial assistance East Delhi Mayor Meenakshi accompanied by the Leader of House Ram Narayan recently met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and asked for financial aid for the debt-ridden civic body.

GHMC ask SCR to pay Rs 33cr Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation asked South Central Railway to pay Rs 33cr for the services provided by the civic body.

GHMC provide various civic services as cleaning, maintenance of rail over bridge, railway station, etc.

BMC to start waste segregation at source from April The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)’s ambitious project to start garbage segregation at the residential level will start from April. The civic body has decided to provide this facility to all houses across the city.

New Delhi: Minister of Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu called for ‘making use of toilets as a life style choice by all and particularly, the poor as part of achieving total sanitation in the country’. Addressing the inaugural session of ‘World Toilet Congress’, Naidu elaborated on a three pronged strategy of promoting awareness about the need for cleanliness, ensuring necessary infrastructure and resorting to penal measures to ensure total sanitation in the country. Reflecting on the sanitation scenario in the country, Venkaiah Naidu noted that none of the 7,135 cities and towns qualifies to be a ‘green city’ in terms of sanitation in the country and only

four cities viz., Chandigarh, New Delhi Municipal Council, Surat and Mysore scored 66 as against 90 required for being a green city, when the last ranking was done in 2010. He informed that fresh ranking of cities based on sanitation conditions would be completed by March this year. The Minister lamented that about US $ 54 billion worth GDP is being lost every year on account of inadequate sanitation in the country. In urban areas, over one crore toilets are required to be built in urban areas alone and the government would be spending over Rs 2 lakh cr in both urban and rural areas in the country over the next five years to ensure cleanliness.

NSDC signs pact with Himachal UD Ministry

Home ministry to launch security portal

SHIMLA: In a major move to give a push to skill development in Himachal Pradesh, National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Department of Urban Development, Himachal Pradesh to implement the skill training on ground.

A tri-partite agreement was signed on 16th Jan, 2015 between NSDC funded Partners, Sector Skill Councils and NULM. Under the MoU, NSDC and Himachal Pradesh have agreed to a joint commitment to align Employment Skills Training and Placement (EST&P) under National Urban Livelihood Mission (NULM). The agreement will ensure outcome based trainings, candidate assessments and certification basis Qualification Packs (QP) and National Occupational Standards (NOS) set by the industry thus leading to suitable jobs and self-employment in the state. The main objective of these courses under NULM is to help increase the income of the urban poor by training them on skill based courses that can provide salaried employment and self-employment opportunities on a sustainable basis for inclusive growth.

New Delhi: Home ministry is soon to launch a web portal ‘MySecurity. in’. It will provide security related web applications. The main objective of the web portal is to promote innovation in developing security related apps and offer trusted applications for people’s security needs. Applications will provide security in emergency situations to women, children, senior citizens and other vulnerable groups.

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500 cr allotted for HRIDAY NEW DELHI : In order to revive the rich and cultural heritage of 12 holy cities the union government has allotted Rs 500 crore under the Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY), Urban Development Minister, M.Venkaiah Naidu said.

The scheme will be wholly funded by the ministry of urban development (MoUD) and will cover 12 heritage cities including Puri, Amritsar, Ajmer, Gaya, Kanchipuram, Mathura, Varanasi and Velankanni.

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City Brand

Building a city’s image When we visit a city for the first time, we always come back with a certain image of the city in our minds. That could be anything: a bridge, a historical monument, public transport, special cuisine, or the typical behaviour of people culminating myriads of cultures...

Abhishek Pandey, Principal Correpondent

A

ll our cities have distinctive characteristics and these make them unique from the rest. They could stand out in infrastructure, buildings, architecture, culture, services, industry, lifestyle, food, so on and so forth.

Mumbai is different from Delhi; from Bangalore; and from Ahmedabad in its own way. Climate is different. People behave differently. The popular mode of travel is varied. Lifestyles people enjoy are also mixed. The types of social milieu and type of hangout zones are, of course, divergent. These differences help in making a distinctive image of a particular city.

Every city evolves its own identity over a period of time. And, the image makes a brand out of a city. As always with branding, image is everything.

Though, in the case of cities, it keeps changing with the infrastructural development, trends of migration, types of industries flourishing in the city, and overall metamorphism of urban spaces.

Indian cities are evolving, and so are their images. People no longer think of Delhi where the Mughals ruled, or where India Gate, Lal Kila (Red Fort)

Hand pull rickshaws, though banned by the Supreme Court few years ago, make us nostalgic about the Kolkata’s urban life in the last century

stands tall, or only as a national and political capital. Now, Delhi, or say, NCR (National Capital Region) is known for being an educational hub, a central operating centre for most of the MNCs in India, for having world class Metro, and a city that offers plethora of opportunities to the young India. The major contributing factor to change in the image goes to the colossal urban sprawl of Delhi. The periphery of the national capital has become virtually bigger than its size.

Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Noida, Greater Noida, and Gurgaon have become the integral part of it; and their culture, lifestyle, have melted in and crafted a different identity of the city, than earlier perceived, in recent times.

Certain powerful images of cities portray the city life. One can identify cities in them. Some images remain and some vanishes over a period of time. For example, industrial towns like Mumbai, Kolkata, and Kanpur in the sixties and seventies were known for having cotton and jute mills. The city clock was tuned with the sirens of those mills. That image has vanished for the new generation.

The new generation will never associate themselves with that image. Now the youngsters perceive the city life

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according to their understanding.

They are more vocal than their earlier generation in expressing their love for cities. There are thousands of groups on social media sites where people express the love for their cities, and a thousands of innovative videos are on video sharing sites. Some of the city lovers even started the website to connect the local citizens. One of such videos that went viral last year was on Indore City in which a group of youngsters showcase different aspects of city in an engaging and interesting way. Similar information about various cities is put up on the Internet by city lovers.

Many of us must have seen ‘I Love New York’ or ‘I Love London’ t-shirts and accessories. These were initially part of campaigns initiated by the respective countries’ government to boost tourism in those cities. But now people in big numbers wear the pride of their cities on their sleeves. The trend is not limited to the developed world. It is quite apparent in India too; not only in metros but in small cities and towns too. So do you wear love of your cities on your sleeves? A youth dawning a t-shirt of ‘I love Panjab’ can be a suitable example to justify the statement on branding your city.

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Civic body to launch online inventory from new fiscal Nashik Municipal Corporation decided to commence an online inventory of equipment and materials for various departments from the new financial year beginning April 1 to ensure transparency in purchase and utilisation of resources.

GCMC adopts social media for complaint redressing The Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation decided to use social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and popular apps like WhatsApp to receive complaints and suggestions from the citizens.

KMC invites tenders to catch pigs, monkeys

Keeping in view the increasing menace caused by monkeys and pigs, Kanpur Municipal Corporation (KMC) recently invited tenders for monkey and pig catching squad.

IMC to slap fines on litterbugs Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC decided to slap a fine of Rs 250 on litterbugs. While dumping chemical and bio-medical waste on road or in open will attract fine of Rs 1,000 and cattle owners will be slapped with a fine of Rs 1,000 in case cattle is found roaming on the road.

NEWSCAN

Israel, India partner for disaster training

AHEMDABAD: To initiate and work on developing a training centre with support of the Israel government, a meeting with Israel delegates was organised at the All India Institute of Local Self Government, recently. Sara Akavia, Deputy Secretary General Local Authorities Confronting Disaster & Emergencies (LACDE), Dorothy Kemelmajer, Project Director, have proposed a training institute for disaster and emergency management that can be set up by the AIILSG with the partnership of Israel Government.

For setting up the training centre, the Israel government would sign an MoU worth $100,000 with Government of Gujarat (GOG), said official sources.

On the basis of MoU, about 5-6 acre of land can be raised with the GoG under knowledge partnership with the AIILSG. The Government of Gujarat welcomed and appreciated the proposal, said sources.

The funding agencies like Asian

Development Bank have been sought after for involvement in development projects.

It was noted in the meeting that the criteria for safe cities was the human factor in resilience cities and that since past six years it has not been updated. During presentations in the event, issues on the safety, disaster & emergency management were highlighted.

The Israel Government and its Ministry of Defense have planned a real training program for all local authorities in Israel.

Hansa Patel, Executive Advisor, AIILSG has been designated as International Coordinator for LACDE / ISDER. Ranjit Chavan, Director General AIILSG has been nominated as Vice President OF LACDE. The step will improve disaster management efficiencies of the local bodies in the state and the similar mechanism can be adapted in other urbal local bodies to make cities disaster resilient.

Bajaj Electricals, Cisco collaborate for Smart Cities NEW DELHI: Bajaj Electricals has partnered with technology giant Cisco to jointly bid and participate in the Indian government’s project to build smart cities.

They would finalise their go-to-market (GTM) plans by March 2015. Their plans include development of products, their promotion and approaching customers for the same. “Cisco would do the software applications and networking aspects such as routers and wireless applications while we will be in active services and fittings of radio frequency, video display, cameras and street lighting,” said Bajaj Electricals President (Lighting Business Group) Sundararajan R. He said the partners were still working on GTM plans after signing agreements with Cisco in last month. Bajaj Electricals Joint Managing Director Anant Bajaj: “Every smart city where Cisco where Cisco would be involved, we are going to be a default partner with them.”

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February 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

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BRIEFS

LEDs to light up Marine Drive, other parts of Mumbai Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation would replace sodium lamps with LEDs in Mumbai. LEDs will illuminate the entire city by October. The total cost of the project is estimated at Rs 250 cr.

Bareilly corp to install automatic street lights Bareilly Municipal Corporation decided to begin a pilot run of automatic street lights in the city, which, if successful, will lead to installation of such lights more widely.

IIT-B students build ‘vertical’ mock house IIT Bombay students have developed a model of vertical house that intends to solve the problem of the increasing urban population in big cities.

NGO, ULB join hands for SWM in Guwahati

Environ, an NGO, has developed ‘Waste Assimilator’ for solid and liquid waste management in households. It will help the Guwahati Municipal Corporation in promoting the idea of decomposing household garbage.

NEWSCAN

Naidu calls for a five pronged strategy to meet water demand New Delhi: Minister of Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu suggested a five pronged strategy to ensure adequate water for drinking and irrigation needs. Addressing the Plenary Session of ‘India Water Week – 2015’, a four-day international conference organised by the Ministry of Water Resources, Naidu said, create awareness among the people about the need for judicious use of and conservation of water, Inter-link rivers (Ganga – Cauvery), Recycling and re-use of water,

Rain water harvesting, and Desalination plants for use of salt water.

Referring to the possibility of conflicts over water resources across the globe, he called for international cooperation to meet water demand. He said India has a population of about 17 percent of the world but has only four percent of water resources. In urban areas, while the requirement is 135 litres per person per day, only about 70 litres are being provided. Awareness among the people to not waste water is also essential.

ADB provides $130m loan for J&K, Karnataka

Chandigarh likely to be the first Indian Smart City

NEW DELHI: Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide a USD 60 million loan for improving urban services such as water supply and urban transport infrastructure in two key cities of Jammu and Kashmir.

The bank will also provide USD 75-million loan and $1.8-million grant to help improve water resource management in three towns of Karnataka in the Upper Tunghabadra sub-bhasin.

The loan from the ADB’s ordinary capital resources has a 25-year term including a grace period of five years. The third tranche loan under the Jammu and Kashmir urban sector development investment programme will supplement the urban infrastructure upgradation programme initiated under Project-I and Project-2.

The project will support Jammu & Kashmir in increasing average water supply from 90 litres per day to 135 litres per day through rehabilitation and improvement of infrastructure. This would also help in substantial reduction of water logging in project areas.About half a million people in Srinagar and Jammu will benefit from improved access to water supply, functional drainage systems, and better transport infrastructure. The load will also be utilised for improving other basic civic services provided by the states and urban local bodies to the general public.

New Delhi: The status of first Indian Smart City is likely to be Chandigarh, Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, informed. “The first Indian smart city to be created could probably be Chandigarh. There are satellite towns around Chandigarh that are being created,” he said.

He also informed that Gandhinagar in Gujarat is an example of a smart city and towns like Noida and New Raipur are attracting foreign investments.

“Noida and Greater Noida are on the outskirts of Delhi, New Raipur in Chhattisgarh ... these are recent experiments we have made.” Several countries like Japan, Germany, Sweden, Singapore, Israel, UK, US, Hong Kong and the Netherlands besides MNCs have shown interest in building smart cities in India.

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February 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

NEWSCAN

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City Images

Varanasi & Kyoto

SISTER CITIES Varanasi and Kyoto have become Sister Cities after the Indian and Japanese government signed an MoU. The cities have many similarities. Both have rich cultural heritage; Varanasi is known as Temple Town while Kyoto is known for having over 1,000 shrines. Both the cities attract millions of tourists every year. Rivers are important for both the cities’ life; three rivers flow along both cities. Sister cities engagement provides for cooperation in heritage conservation, city modernisation and cooperation in the fields of art, culture and academics.

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2015

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www.urbanupdate.in | February 2015

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BRIEFS

NDMC to gift LEDs to its employees on Holi North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) is promoting the usage of Light Emitting Diode (LED) bulbs under ‘Palika Nav Jyoti’. It has decided to gift three LEDs each, instead of sweets, to all its employees on Holi to make them aware about the importance of energy conservation.

300 MW solar projects for defence est.

Ministry of new and renewable energy is setting a new energy project of 300MW particularly in defence areas. The cost of the project is estimated to be Rs. 750 crores.

CSE condemns MoEF’s study The Centre for Science and Environment recently condemned the study

by Union ministry of environment and forests and climate change (MoEF), which downplayed the contribution of vehicles to air pollution in Delhi.

Women safety mobile app ‘Himmat’ launched Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh recently launched the women’s safety mobile application ‘Himmat’ of the Delhi Police. Singh said that it will help in improving women safety in the capital.

Solar panels mandatory in Haryana Haryana government has decided to make it mandatory for all buildings on plot size of 500 square yards or more to install

NEWSCAN

‘Cities to earn funds for S

Cracking a whip on the states on the allocation of funds for the pro government now has signalled states to buckle up and finish within New Delhi: The Centre has signalled states to get started on developing ‘Smart Cities’ with a caveat-they will have to “earn” the funds being allocated by the Urban Development Ministry for the scheme.

In a recently concluded consultation on smart cities being hosted by the Centre, UD Minister, M Venkaiah Naidu said “The Centre will not hand out the funds for developing smart cities or allow the states to stretch deadlines. The funds to undertake the work will be divided into retrofitting, redevelopment and greenfield projects.”

A competition would be held to assess the proven ability of cities in terms of reforms and innovation and the potential.

Earlier, addressing the state representatives, the minister said though the centre will allocate funds, urban local bodies, private companies and citizens will also have to chip in with their efforts.

“Smart cities will not be developed overnight or in Delhi and transported to other centres,” Naidu said, listing a ‘4 S and 4 P’ formula.

“Smart leadership, smart governance, smart technologies and smart people make a city smart. The resource challenge can be met if we make a success of Public-PrivatePeople Partnership (4Ps),” he said.

He urged local bodies to “have courage to take quick and bold decisions” and adopt best practices to attract investments.

“We need Rs. 40 lakh crore for developing

Achieving the goal of developing 100 smart cities in India will require a lot more than the right technologies, say experts, given that Indian cities are lacking in basic governance and physical infrastructure. So, even if sensors were placed to detect leakages in water pipes, Indian authorities are currently not geared up to resolve the problem efficiently. smart cities and another Rs. 20 lakh crore for maintaining them,” he said, urging the local bodies to refrain from populist measures and instead opt for

Madurai worst in bio-med waste mgmt: Study MADURAI: A study by International Clinical Epidemiology Network (INCLEN), covering 400 private and government hospitals in 20 states across the nation reveals that Madurai features among the worst areas when it comes to disposing medical waste. On a 10-point scale measuring the safety of disposal methods, government and

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February 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

private hospitals in Chennai scored 7.02 and 8.9 respectively, while the hospitals in Madurai stood at a dismal 0.92 and 0.6. The Biomedical Waste Management and Handling Rules, 1998, identify 10 categories of biomedical waste, and stipulate that these should be segregated from the other kinds of waste but there is less awareness among medical staff.

NEWSCAN

Smart Cities’

oposed ‘Smart Cities’, the central n the proposed deadline ...

“transparent and judicious tax models”.

Citing how different aspects like sanitation and waste management contribute to making of a smart city, Naidu informed that the inadequate sanitation alone costs India about 6.4 percent of the GDP each year besides resulting in 18 lakh deaths annually caused by diarrhoeal diseases on account of contaminated water. There is a need of change in habits of people and government employees to esnure total sanitation in urban centres. “The challenges are huge, in the urban areas alone, 12.6 percent defecate in the open and only 32.7 percent have piped sewerage system. A smart city has to be clean and green, had to make urban life comfortable, have total sanitation, 24X7 water and power, waste management and good transport,” he outlined.

rooftop solar power systems .

18 new FM channels for Northeast, 15 for J&K

Green tax to be imposed in Kanpur

New Delhi: Union government approved 18 new FM Radio Channels in the eight North-Eastern States and 15 new FM Radio Channels in J&K. Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Dr. Jitendra Singh hailed it as a New Year gift for the border States of Jammu & Kashmir and North-East.

Out of the 15 new FM channels to be launched in J & K, three each will be in Kathua and Bhaderwah. Of the remaining nine channels, three each will be in Kargil, Leh and Poonch.

In North-East, three channels each will be launched in the six towns of Haflong and Dhubri in Assam, Jowai in Meghalaya, Lung-lei in Mizoram, Mokukchung in Nagaland and Belonia in Tripura.

This is in addition to the existing 12 FM channels which are already functional in the North-East. Dr Singh said, the new channels are being launched with the special objective of extending the reach and impact of radio to the border areas, where other means of telecast or broadcast are not available. Radio is still the most easily available and convenient medium of broadcast even in such peripheral areas where television telecast is not accessible.

LED to be installed in 100 cities NEW DELHI: To help consumers save on their pocket in terms of whopping electricity bills, Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently launched a program to install LED (light-emitting diode) bulbs for domestic and street lighting in 100 cities by March 2016. The low carbon scheme was officially launched in New Delhi, where citizens who sign up to participate will benefit from a 12-month saving on their electricity bills. LED bulbs can cut CO2 emissions by 50-70 percent, and when combined with smart controls, can save up to 80 percent of the energy used. LEDs help to reduce costs, enhance public safety, minimize light pollution and make public spaces friendlier at night.

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2015

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To curb air pollution in the city, the Regional Transport Office (RTO) has started collection of ‘green tax’ from the vehicles that are 15-year-old. Green tax or environmental tax is imposed on environmental pollutants or on goods whose repeated use contributes to pollution.

Guj solar park to create 20,000 jobs

Solar park project in Gujarat is estimated to create 20,000 new jobs.

The two companies--Adani Enterprises and US-based SunEdison--will set up a joint venture for building the largest vertically integrated solar photovoltaic manufacturing plant.

Mobile internet users in India to rise to 213m The number of mobile internet users in India, pegged at 173 million in December 2014, and is expected to reach 213 million by June 2015.

Neyveli to set up thermal power plant A high-level environment ministry panel has given its nod to Neyveli Lignite to set up a new thermal power plant of 1,000 MW capacity at a wildlife area in Tamil Nadu’s Tuticorin district.

BRIEFS

‘Control human disaster to prevent natural ones’ MUMBAI: The resolution for cities should be to adopt disaster management techniques to combat human disasters, the Executive Advisor of AIILSG and Global Coordinator Sister Cities International, Hansa Patel said in a recent event on mutual agreement

NEWSCAN

Nagpur to learn from Santra Clara NAGPUR: The orange city Nagpur in Maharashtra is all set to share knowledge and exchange better ideas with Santa Clara city of USA. The Nagpur Municipal Corporation and Sister Cities International, USA have inked an agreement for better practices in the field of education, research, information, technology and culture in the near future.

Mayor Pravin Datke and Bill Boerum, Chairman of Sister Cities International signed the Memorandum of

welcoming environment that not only makes it possible, but also ensures easy and smooth flow to formulate concrete areas of cooperation globally,” she added.

Both Nagpur and Santa Clara will exchange their views on water supply, sewerage, light, environment, education, skill development and other sectors.

Mayor Datke informed that this initiative will give new direction to the growth of Orange City in all the sectors and emphasised Nagpur youths can get

Understanding in the presence of Hansa Patel, Global Chairperson, Sister Cities International, and Executive Advisor, AIILSG. “The Sister City collaboration would firm up technical, financial and institutional arrangements and pay way for effective operationalisation. The partnership agreement will work on workable proposals, which would benefit Nagpur and Santa Clara in a big way,” Hansa Patel told Urban Update.

“Both cities can learn and gain a lot from each other in tourism. Such sister city partnerships is an area which is filled with optimism, a desire for change and progress, and the confidence to achieve it. Forging such partnerships creates a

better job opportunity.

Boerum while addressing a gathering said, “This initiative will give opportunity to both the cities to develop and exchange ideas in several sectors. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided to develop 100 smart cities in India and this MoU will be a major step to achieve this goal.”

Earlier, All India Institute of Local Self Government (AIILSG) has signed a MoU with Sister Cities International under the leadership of Hansa Patel on July 12, 2012 at Jacksonville, Florida, USA. Ahmedabad and Bangalore were linked with city of Ganzhou, China in 2014 for the purpose of promoting the mutual agreement.

Hansa Patel, Executive Advisor, AIILSG

between Nagpur and US’ Santa Clara. “The emergence of competition element during urbanisation process is going to make our cities and megacities vulnerable, especially if they are located in coastal region. In the course of time, we have shown our concerns for the issues of population growth, climate change and the issue of over exploitation of natural resources, which has been neglected so far,” Patel told Urban Update.

Stating that cities should provide safe mobility for its citizens, in view of the recent e-rickshaw mishaps in the national capital Patel said: “Natural disasters are difficult to challenge therefore we find solutions by early warning & awareness whereas human errors are self-made disasters by human negligence. Have you seen the school children on an auto rickshaws or a cycle-rickshaw without safety gears? Isn’t this a disaster?”

18

February 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

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Numerographs | Urban Demography

309 Million

29 %

70 %

Total Number of Migrants in India

of Indian population is migrant

of migrants are women

Urban Migrants 59 %

40 %

67 %

Urban migrants were from rural areas

Urban migrants were from urban areas

Urban migrant households migrated for better employment opportunities

n a b r U n India

Urban Population Growth

Number of Urban Units in India

8000 32

7000

30

6000 28

5000

26 25

4000

23

3000

1971

1981

1991

2001

0

2011

Year >>>

Five Most Urbanised States (by % of population living in cities) #UTs not included

7935

1961

5161

1951

3768

1000

2363

2000 2843

15

19

18

17

2072

20

1827

Urban Population in % of total population

35

1901

1931

1951

1961

1991

2001

2011

Year >>>

Five States with most urban population 6

62 %

38 %

Mizoram

52 %

48 %

4

Tamil Nadu

48 %

52 %

3

Kerala

48 %

52 %

0%

20 %

40 %

60 %

20 February 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

80 %

100 %

0 Ma

tra

h

es

sh

ra ha

U

rad rP tta

u

ad

Ta

lN mi

2,83,53,745

1

2,91,34,060

2

3,49,49,729

Population

Rural Population

55 %

4,44,70,455

45 %

Urban Population

Maharashtra

5

5,08,27,531

Goa

l ga

We

h

es

ad Pr hra

en

B st

d

An

Migration Rate 56 %

29 %

Urban Male

Rural Male Migrants Migrated Because of Employment Reasons

61 %

91 %

Urban Female

Rural Female Migrants Migrated Because of Marriage

35 %

26 %

Is the migration Rate in urban areas

Is the migration Rate in rural areas

y h p a r g o Dem

Pandey Compiled by: Abhishek i Rajput ksh ena Me by: tion Illustra

Why Migration?

0.29

0.08

16.59 6.11

4.32

0.16

0.1

17.67

RuralRural

16.71

UrbanRural

5.97 65.03

64.1

Unclassified Rural

7.45

Migration Trends

It took nearly 50 years for India’s urban population to rise to 377 million, but it will take only a decade and half to add the next 200 million. By 2030, 590 million people will live in cities, more than double, the 290 million, in 2001.

The rapid urban migration in search of better livelihood and lifestyle can be attributed as the prime reason

55.51

Rural Urban

4.2 1981

1991

Distribution (per 1000) of migrants by reason for migrationand 2007–2008

Class

2001

Unclassified Urban

Rural Areas Male

Female

Urban Areas Male

Female

Employment related reason 286 7 557 27 Studies 107 5 68 22 Marriage 94 912 14 608 Movement of parents/earning member 221 44 252 294 Other reasons (incl.n.r) 292 32 109 49 All 1000 1000 1000 1000

Source: 64th round National Sample Survey on Employment & Unemployment and Migration Particulars, Census of India, McKinsey Report ‘India’s Urban Awakening’, International Labour Organisation (ILO) reports

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2015

21

COVER STORY | 74th Amendment

COVER STORY | 74th Amendment

Curious case of 74 Amendment th

The 74th Amendment to the Constitution that aimed at strengthening urban local bodies did not transform, as desired, the way civic bodies manage their territories. Rapid urban growth in India demands more power for ULBs to address the challenges cities and towns are facing today Abhishek Pandey, Principle Correspondent

22 February 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

The history of municipal governance in India dates back to 1687 when the first Municipal Corporation was established in Madras, now Chennai. It is the second oldest municipal corporation of the World after City of London Corporation

T

he history of urban governance in India goes back to 1687 when the first Municipal Corporation was formed in Madras. Later municipal bodies came up in Calcutta and Bombay

in the early eighteenth century. In the nineteenth century almost all urban centres had some kind of urban local governance in place.

In the same period, Lord Rippon, then Viceroy of India, began to study functions of local bodies, and in 1882, Rippons’s resolution of local

self-government laid the democratic forms of municipal governance in India. Following this, a Government of India Act was passed in 1919 that incorporated the need of the resolution and the powers of democratically elected local governments.

Speaking on evolvement of local

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2015

23

COVER STORY | 74th Amendment

Urban bodies were categorised into municipal councils and municipal corporations in 1935 by a Government of India act but they were not given due importance and empowered

“

Jatin Modi, President of AIILSG

governance in India, Jatin Modi, President of All India Institute of Local Self Government (AIILSG)told Urban Update that the urban bodies were categorised into municipal councils and municipal corporations in 1935 by a Government of India Act but they were not given due importance and empowered even after the Independence.

“The devolution of power to municipal bodies came much later in 1992 after the 74th Amendment of the Constitution. However, in between there were some efforts to empower local bodies but the major focus of the government remained rural as over 70 percent of population continued to live in villages until the last Census that showed a reverse trend -the urban population grew bigger in size than rural population,” he added.

The 74th Amendment of Constitution

The 74th CAA empowered urban local bodies to run and rule their respective territories with lesser interference from the state and union governments.

The step was aimed at strengthening decentralisation and empowerment of urban local governments by recognising it as a third tier government. It called for greater responsibilities for urban

planning and service delivery at the district and metropolitan levels. It also enabled them to have greater authority to mobilise and using resources.

However, this occurred erratically in practice in different states.

This was also not accompanied by equivalent financial powers and resources, so the local governments remained administratively and economically weak.

The sister Amendment, the 73rd Amendment of the Constitution was brought along for strengthening the rural local governance. It not only brought about revolutionary change in the way rural areas were governed but also provided an opportunity to the socially excluded groups to have say in the governance and decision making process. Participation of women and other socially excluded group got strengthened in villages, however, with initial hiccups of implementation and socio-political reasons.

On the other side, the 74th amendment did not transform, as desired, the way urban local bodies function because it was not implemented in letter and spirit in every state.

The Act recommended the creation of State Finance Commissions (SFC) and State Election Commissions (SEC) to improve the financial state of the

local bodies and make the electoral process transparent. The SFCs were to review and make recommendations to central finance commission, while the SECs were to look after the fair elections in urban local bodies.

According to Modi, the SFCs in most of the states are just for the name sake.

These commissions did not do enough to make civic bodies financially strong.

None of the states have working ward committees, as mentioned in the 74th CAA,to have fruitful community participation, he said.

Even after 23 years of passing of the Act, the urban governance in the country is in a mess as most of the civic bodies are cash-strapped and they have to seek the permission of the state government before taking any administrative step to overhaul or to initiate a development project. The system of urban governance needs to be transformed into a mechanism that ensures efficient, fast, and accountable delivery system of civic services.

Roles of the ULBs

The Act encouraged state governments to devolve a range of important functional responsibilities to municipalities, as mentioned in the XII schedule of Constitution of India, including land-use, economic

The key issue is that functional devolution to ULBs needs to be supported by adequate transfer of revenue sources and also with managerial capacity to undertake these functions Appejay Parasher, Associate Director Risk and Infrastructure Solutions Limited, CRISIL

24 February 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

“

Time Line

COVER STORY | 74th Amendment

1687

1723

1882

Corporation of Madras, now known as Corporation of Chennai,was set up on December 30, 1687

Mumbai and Kolkata municipal bodies were established

Lord Rippon’s resolution for local self government was passed to lay the democratic forms of municipal governance

development, water, roads and poverty alleviation. The authority to take decisions on these subjects was to be transferred by the state governments to the municipalities.

Diana Lopez, Local Government and Decentralization Unit, UN-Habitat, told Urban Update that the urban bodies should have powers to carry out development projects in their territories without having to seek permission from the state or union governments.

“The authority will help in making local governance easier and proactive player in urban planning too by coming out-of-ordinary solutions for the urban problems,” she said.

The number of urban units in India has gone up significantly in last twenty years. In 1911, there were only 1,827 urban units and the number has gone up to almost 7,935. The urban municipalities lack resources and efficient man power to manage their growing populations, resulting in multiplicity of problems.

With more people migrating to cities in search of better employment opportunities and life, the cities are getting more crowded and polluted. It is expected over 50 percent of population

will live in cities by 2030. The rapid urban growth is an alarming sign for the policy makers to set things right in urban local bodies to streamline the management of cities by empowering local bodies.

The elected representatives across the country have been demanding more powers for the local bodies but their pleas and demands have fell on deaf years.

Kavinder Gupta, former Mayor of Jammu, said, “Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) election without the implementation of the 74th Amendment is a futile exercise. The state government in Jammu and Kashmir had not implemented the act in entirety, that is why ULBs in the state don’t have enough administrative and financial powers.

Situation is same in other states too. Seeing the increasing population and high density in cities, the ULBs are getting burdened. They should be empowered to make the management of cities easier.”

Community participation vital

Under the provisions of the act, people were to be given say in how

their communities would develop: their elected representatives at the local level were to be empowered to act in the common interest. Appejay Parasher, Associate Director, Risk and Infrastructure Solutions Limited, CRISIL, told Urban Update that various acts and provisions have made provisions for citizen participation in planning and decision making process.

However, in real terms, this has remained generally on papers or the people’s participation has been limited or temporary.

Parasher added that planning and budgeting is one area where citizen’s participation would naturally improve the participation levels. Bottom up planning approach and budget preparation would be more realistic in implementation. This would also require capacity building and empowerment of citizens over the period of time.

Talking about the administrative and financial powers of ULBs, Parasher said one of the important aspects is to transfer all the 18 functions to urban local governments, which is yet to happen in entirety in most of the states.

Water supply in many cities is still managed by the state parastatals, in

Urban bodies should have powers to carry out development projects in their territories without having to seek permission from the state or union governments Diana Lopez, Local Government and Decentralization Unit, UN-Habitat

26 February 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

“

A Gov was pas need the po

1919

vernment of India Act ssed to incorporate the of the resolution and owers of elected local governments

1926

1935

1992

All India Institute of Local Self Government was established to empower civic bodies

Another Government of India act brought local government under the purview of the provincial governments and specific powers were given

The 74th CAA was passed to empower ULBs and for the devolution of financial and administrative powers

ULB elections without the implementation of the 74th Amendment is a futile exercise. The state government in Jammu and Kashmir had not implemented the act in entirety, that is why ULBs in the state don’t have enough administrative and financial powers Kavinder Gupta, former Mayor of Jammu

some states this is jointly managed by both ULB and parastatal.

The key issue is that functional devolution to ULBs needs to be supported by adequate transfer of revenue sources and also with managerial capacity to undertake these functions. The recruitment of power and policies are still governed by states and there is little autonomy for ULBs to undertake its own decision making for manpower recruitment.

In terms of fiscal resources needed to manage functions, the ULBs still depend on states for any tax rate increase or introduction of new levies and at the same time there is resistance at the ULB end in increasing charges/ taxes.

Empowering ULBs is essential for improving the urban governance and it includes building managerial and technical capacity on a continuous basis. Experts with professional experience should be employed to improve management of day-to-day works and increase the revenue of the municipalities. The local bodies should

have financial autonomy and enough powers to execute administrative affairs. For that, states need to empower local governments and municipal legislations and regulations in this respect, said Modi.

Money matters

The financial condition of most of the urban local bodies is not such that they can initiate any big development works on their own. ULBs need to learn from the successful model of urban governance worldwide and in the country to increase their revenue.

Adoption of technology and explaining the financial status of the municipalities in the country, Parasher said that on an average, about 60-70 percent of revenue receipts of ULBs are in the form of grants from the state governments. The operating ratios of these ULBs have also not been in a comfortable position, with many of them above 0.8. There is a need for ULBs to harness the potential from avenues available to them and tap areas of revenue leakages.

“

Property tax is one important area where both the coverage and collection efficiency is not up to the mark and is marked with high outstanding arrears. Measures like improving on the billing schedule and priority billing can improve the cash flow. Fast track redressal system would also assist in release of outstanding dues.

A proper administrative structure with manpower would help in improving the coverage and can be further benefitted with use of IT. ULBs also need to focus on 100 percent operation and maintenance cost recovery of services. This would require identifying areas of expenditure management, tariff rationalisation and a robust billing and collection system.

ULBs also need to improve on overall financial management practice and need to have more scientific method of budgeting and arriving at realistic revenue targets and expenditures. ULBs also need to explore means of focusing on revenue generating projects and further leveraging the revenues to access funds from market.

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2015

27

COVER STORY | Local Governance

Empower local governance Cities are the epicenter of productivity and socioeconomic growth. In order to enhance it, strengthening the Urban Local Bodies (ULB)s is an essential leap Prathiba Raju, Assistant Editor

T

he roles of the ULBs are reduced to that of mute spectator in some cases and appointing agency in others. The third tier of governance needs greater devolution of power and empowered leadership as many civic agencies, particularly smaller ones are not financially

independent, so implementing reforms becomes difficult, complaint city managers.

As per a report from McKinsey ‘India’s Economic Geography in 2025: States, Clusters and Cities’ estimates that by 2025, 38 percent of India will be urbanised, up from 31 percent in 2011. This urbanisation and the associated income growth is likely

to propel income levels in “high performing” states, currently enjoyed by global middle-income countries.

For example, the 128 million residing in Maharashtra are likely to have purchasing parity similar to that of Brazil today. Households in Delhi are likely to have a standard of living comparable to Russia, while Goa and Chandigarh will mirror Spain.

By 2025, 57 percent, or 51 million of India’s 89 million consuming class households (those earning above Rs 4.85 lakh a year) will be concentrated in “very high performing” and “high performing” states, up from 16 million in 2012.

While these projections are based on annual growth averaging 6.4 percent over the decade, the report also indicates that an absence of wideranging reforms to tackle systemic issues if the annual growth is expected to be lower at around 5.2 percent - it will have a negative impact.

Prioritise local governance

In order to create sustainable and vibrant cities, a focused, forwardlooking economic vision that targets long-term productivity, inclusivity, and resilient is necessary. To achieve this, city governance needs quality coordination and a fair distribution of roles and responsibilities.

On contrary the representatives of local governments inform that they are ignored. There is an urgent need to strengthen the local bodies to create resilient cities.

“The state and central government should not forget that Mayors are the guarantors of services in local life. It is necessary that we get adequate financial and administrative powers,” said Vinod Chamoli, Mayor of Dehradun.

Highlighting the reform of ULBs, Umashankar Gupta, Higher Education Minister, Madhya Pradesh told Urban Update, “The basic principal of the 74th Amendment is that local bodies should be given priority when it comes to city governance, they can make better plans for the city.

If the Constitution Amendment Act

28 February 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

Gujarat has set an example on how the state and urban local bodies should run in a cohesive manner. All the initiatives taken by the city management are well appreciated by the state government Meenaxi Patel, Mayor, Ahmedabad

(CAA) is implemented, the municipal corporation will be strengthened and it would provide better civic services.”

Cohesiveness essential

Enabling the ULBs to function and making them responsible and accountable to the citizens, sharing of responsibilities between state and local bodies is necessary.

“Growing urbanisation is a big challenge and thus, there must be proper co-ordination among the centre, state governments and local bodies for the development of cities,” said Anil Sole, Mayor of Nagpur Municipal Corporation.

Talking about Ahmedabad, one of the prime cities of Gujarat, Meenaxi Patel, Mayor of the city said, “We have set an example on how the state and urban local bodies should run in a cohesive manner. All the initiatives taken by the city management are well appreciated by the state government.”

She also informed that the financial aspect is decided by the corporations and the ULB standing committees go by the state government, which advises allocation of funds.

“I feel financial freedom is whatever is required by the councillor and it is provided to them through a budget, the hindrances that comes are technical.

In Gujarat, 90 percent work is done smoothly through transparency in knowing the distribution of the funds,” Patel said.

Meanwhile, Dr Satya Pandy, Gorakhpur Mayor, says that Gorakhpur being a major city of eastern Uttar Pradesh has not developed in a planned way.

She said that to emancipate cities, the municipal corporation should

be empowered as per the 74th CAA. She demanded that the development authorities should come under the municipal corporation for better management of cities.

“The city has lot of potential to grow into a planned city. We have proposed plans for improving drainage system and expansion of main roads of the city. Located close to Nepal border, many foreign tourists come to city for going to Nepal and Sarnath but no one stays here. The city infrastructure has to be developed in such a way that attracts national and international tourists. I have plan to make 1700 acre Ramgadpal Lake into a major tourist attraction. As a city manager, I have lot of development plans for my city, but I need finance and decision making power to execute them,” Pandy said.

She added that not all local bodies have financial, administrative powers and we need such powers for smooth functioning. There is a lot of interference from the governance.

“We have to go to state and central government for permission before initiating any project for cities,” Pandy added.

Krishna Murari Moghe, Indore Mayor, told Urban Update, “Earlier the state received funds for development projects through the JnNURM. But with the ‘Building 100 Smart Cities’ announcement and cities being allocated 7,000 crore, the guidelines are unknown. We require provisions to resolve impending issues like lake restoration, solid waste management, waste treatment plants, in cities of population above 10 lakhs.”

The city governance needs to restructure local bodies so that they can work for the betterment of the city on

“

the basis of priorities of different cities, he added.

The Union Urban Development Minister, M Venkaiah Naidu had recently informed that the urban local bodies across various states had not been empowered as required, and they are financially constrained and lack capacity to discharge functions as per the Constitution (74th Amendment) Act, 1992.

According to Naidu, most of the states have not met the requirements of the 74th Amendment in respect of devolution of powers and responsibilities to municipal bodies.

As per the Urban Development ministry, the 12th Schedule of the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act of India, defines tasks in the functional domain of the Urban Local Bodies.

It illustrates about the ULBs role, power, function and finances like the urban planning including town planning, regulation of land use and construction of building, water supply for domestic, industrial and commercial purposes, public health, sanitation conservancy and solid waste management, slum improvement and upgradation.

Challenged with population boom, increasing urbanisation, migrants in flow, good city managers are necessary to develop a robust megalopolis.

For this we need to develop Indian Municipal Services (IMS) on the line of Indian Administrative Services (IAS) that will help in managing cities better, says Gupta.

“States should also have Municipal Cadre for effective implementing municipal projects. Madhya Pradesh has done it and other states shall follow the suite,” Gupta added.

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2015

29

COVER STORY | Urban Governance

Cities will bloom if their politics flower Indian cities have been crying out for attention for a long time now with no one hearing its plaints or prayers. The promised rescuers have been too late in coming.

Indeed, the danger is that the rescue may never happen or if it happens, it could be too little too late

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n many of our cities the municipal structure exists, but mostly in a dysfunctional state. Elections are held to these municipalities in due deference to the democratic framework of our respected Constitution, but their working is sadly without spirit and adherence to the norms of governance. Indeed, there is a wide gap in our governance structure. The Central government handles the Union subjects; the State governments are responsible for the state issues and jointly with the centre handle the concurrent subjects.

But who handles the city governance?

It is a big question. The defenders of the faith can argue that the municipal bodies exist to provide the city governance, but is it really the scenario? Look at city after city after city, municipal bodies are in a decrepit state, barely staffed, short handed in required skills and even in financial straits, generally bordering between dire and insufficient and unaware of the computer age.

States seldom guide ULBs

Raj Liberhan Former Director India Habitat Centre

30 February 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

The state capitals are supposed to provide the paternal guidance but that largely depends on the political colour of the state and the municipal body being in tune with each other as well as also on the political weight of the legislator representing the area. Of course, the metropolitan areas have fared better but that too only just. They have their

governance framework which functions with relative independence, but in terms of performance, they only serve 5060 percent of the populations of their cities. A large section are outside their pale because of inadequate resources and a deteriorating infrastructure.

They have been beaten by the volumes of unsatisfied city residents, slowly at first and now increasingly, the numbers demanding services are beyond its ability thus making the climb to normalcy a steep one. This sorry state of civic governance created an urgency in the decision makers to try and resurrect the municipal structure, strengthen it and give it capacity to manage the cities, create its revenue streams and get access to financial resources based on its populations from the Central government under a rationalized financial allocation methodology. The Central Government passed the 73rd and the 74th Constitutional amendments to empower the States to create an effective third tier of governance in 1992 and 1993.

On becoming effective, the constitutional framework mandated the States to create reformed urban local bodies and initiate a series of steps to make them effective.

Sadly, the follow through by the State governments has been half hearted and the promised third tier of governance has failed to deliver the hopes of a sound and effective city governance paradigm.

Woefully short of capacities and resources, the State governments were

to hand hold and navigate the health of the urban local bodies. While there were individual stories of achievements at the official level, the political layers failed completely to provide the vision and the leadership. It is the leadership that anchors the ambition of the city and the officials who negotiate the ambitions into real goals. And when this does not happen, we, the people, are stranded at the cross roads of unliveable cities without choices.

The quest to reform

How will this stalemate end and who will end it? The efforts so far by the Central Government have been to incentivise reforms through providing financial assistance to those municipal bodies that carry out structural reform in their property tax regimes, levying user charges on civic services, changing their accounting practices to be transparent and becoming informative.

The JnNURM has been a quest in this direction, a phased urban renewal rewarding willingness to change.

However, it is the politics of the State that has really come in the way of a more rapid and consistent reforms in the urban local bodies.

All the state governments are chief minister driven. He is the essence of all power and nothing really can move without his express or tacit approval.

The members of the legislature from the majority party are the support of this fulcrum of power and as all politics is about eliminating competition, hence the famed third tier of governance; the urban local bodies are kept under the thumb of the power of the legislators, particularly those who form the government. The opposition is happy to go along with this idiom of state politics as it suits their political future too. The city is thus bereft of political leadership to carry India’s urban story forward to a legitimate destiny. The result is for all to see- Urban chaos.

It is all in the hands of the state governments. The sooner the political set up realises that they cannot run city managements from their capitals, the better it will be for all urban developments including the

management of civic amenities of acceptable quality.

Smart City to strengthen ULBs

The Centre’s Smart city program is a step in the right direction. It has created the Smart City Challenges which would require the rating of the municipal bodies on parameters of self financing ability, institutional systems and capacities, existing service levels, track record of implementing reforms and quality of vision and planning.

These parameters would compel the municipal body to reorganise itself to qualify itself for being selected as a Smart City and thus acquire a platform for increased assistance and a planned pace of developments. Simultaneously, the municipal commissioners have to sought fixed tenures for the mayors and commissioners. Add to this, the need to create a Municipal services cadre to bring muscle into the capacity to deliver on its vision, the platform then will be truly set for the launch of a sound civic governance system. Political leadership will then also get generated and if the Mayor system gets the esteem and there must be enhancement of the city’s liveability profile, urban development would progress in a sustainable manner and can be regulated under compliable

laws. The Central government has created the enabling environment, it is up to the states to capitalise and shed its political fears of being rendered irrelevant if the Mayor flourishes.

Would it be reasonable to expect a level of political maturity that will give widest possible space to the evolution of political profiles who find prominence in civic governance, the kind of profiles who will anchor the city dreams and seek their best to fulfill them? The historical evidence certainly does not inspire confidence that a miracle can happen in the management of our cities. But we are really up against a wall. If the governance paradigms at the civic level do not change, then it is curtains for a decent city life. We need to hear the alarm bells which are sounding incessantly that our cities need an all round rescue from silent disasters that are happening in waste management, water quality, pollution in the air and awful land use patterns.

Cities across the world have made turnaround in the past and so can we, only if we get the courage to address the fundamentals and do it, rather than only talk about things that should be done. The year 2015 will tell us if we are about to begin our journey to a healthy and fulfilling urban experience for all who seek it.

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2015

31

CITY LIFE | Life in ‘Red Light’

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en-year-old Neena (name changed) is busy reading a poem, while Bahadur, eight, is quietly drawing a blue sky in the corner of a classroom. While near to him sits Sabiya who is busy doing calculation. This might look like ordinary students doing usual stuff in a normal classroom.

In fact, there is nothing unusual about this class room. Except all the students are connected with a common social thread; they are born to the sex workers in Gariston Bastion Road, known as G B Road, a notorious redlight district in Delhi.

Against all the odds life has put them into, these kids are ambitiously fighting for social inclusion. All they want is to be treated just like other children.

Showing the light “Kat-Katha” (means the story of puppets) NGO, which runs the school, has been an emancipator, by providing wings to the dreams of children living in the brothels on the dingy street.

Started in 2011 and registered in 2013, Kat-Katha doesn’t have a formal classroom set up with blackboards and benches. But the 20 children in various age groups are not been just taught arts, but are imparted confidence to explore the outer world and face it with a sense of connection; using expression and exploring possibilities.

Five years ago, Kat-Katha was started as an initiative to empower about 4,500 sex workers by making them independent and strong to redirect their lives. But slowly, they started to

see another harrowing side of their plight. The organisation witnessed a hard hitting reality about the children of the workers – as being the victims.

The needs of these children are far from being ignored by the government.

They are left at the perils of being manipulated and exploited in an unsafe zone.

Unfolding the story of how Kat-Katha evolved, Gitanjali Babbar, the founder of the NGO said along with a series of incidents, involving the daily lives of the women of G B Road made her to start this initiative. The programme has now reaped in positive results through enhancing the persontalities of their children.

“There was no agenda behind starting Kat-Katha. It just happened.

It was not an easy task to bring in a rapport with the children and make them believe that we are here to help… took us almost a year. We had to build a strong bonding with these children.

They are emotional. They don’t open up easily. We had to break that isolation…we did it slowly and built a strong understanding,” Babbar told Urban Update.

The school’s prime focus is to teach these children basics of life like economic empowerment and selfrealisation.

The journey was not smooth for Babbar. Initially, she had no alternative but to teach the children and their mothers in different brothels at different times. But it was the overwhelming support from brothel owners that kept her going, she informed.

She vacated seven places. For the past

Mending life in ‘GB Road’ Children of sex workers at the capital’s G B road were for so long being eluded by the mainstream.

It is heartwarming to watch humanitarians giving them a new lease of life by empowering them with education PrathibA Raju, Assitant Editor F

32 February 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

I have been talking to police officials and politicians but nothing seems to happen. The road and the inhabitants do not seem to be in the government’s agenda. There is no government school on this road. One which was there was closed years ago. Why these children are not included in the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan?

Gitanjali Babbar, Founder of Kat-Katha four years she is running the school, purely on donations from friends and well-wishers.

Babbar, who earlier worked as a programme officer with the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), said when she started, some of the children used to make abusive and threatening calls to her.

“Time has the power to change and now they know the value of education.

One of our students is now doing an internship programme with a famous photographer. While another student of ours has been selected in National School of Drama (NSD) and she is a part of a theatre group. But still they don’t want their identity to be revealed because of the social stigma. But KatKatha is doing every bit to transform their lives,” Ritu Moni Das, volunteer in Kat-Katha told Urban Update.

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She informed that one of the students who worked in garage was bullied by the other men working there when they knew he was from G B Road. He had to leave the job. Such incidents makes them hide their real identities.

“A year was spent just to teach them to refrain from abusing in the class and in their day-to-day life. They cannot be blamed for what they are. They are pure souls who are emotionally charged and highly talented,” Das added.

Each kid and his/her mother have a story, and they are fighting it out through immense courage, faith, compassion, love, joy. KatKatha is just an instrument which elevates these qualities. It is not just us, it is with the help of a human spirit alike from police officers to college students, who work as volunteers, brothel owners to overseas professionals who donate, says Babbar.

Despite efforts made by Kat-Katha and other NGOs, G B Road has been isolated. Dilapidated buildings, dark and gloomy stairways, and open gutters tell the story of neglect.

“I have been police officials and politicians but nothing seems to happen. The road and the inhabitants do not seem to be in the government’s agenda. There is no government school on this road. One which was there was closed years ago. Why these children are not included in the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan?” asks Babbar.

Listing out the essentials required for the children and the women of the G B Road, she says, “Apart from educational centre, they need ration card, health card to get medical facilities at a government hospital and other basic civic amenities.

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2015

33

Urban Dialogues | Liveable Metropolis Mumbai

For a better Mumbai Mumbai is grappling with many urban challenges, propelled by the rapid population growth. Intelligentsia from different sectors participated in ‘Liveable Metropolis Mumbai’ conference to find solutions to the civic problems of the economic capital of the country; the most exigent being the repositioning of the growth strategy for Mumbai Metropolitan Region Adwait Aundhkar, Advisory Cunsultant, AIILSG Mumbai

T (MMRDA)

34 February 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

he All India Institute of Local Self Government (AIILSG) in association with Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority and Civic Mediaworks

organised a one-day long Round Table conference ‘Liveable Metropolis Mumbai’ at the Sahyadri State Guest House, Mumbai.

The main objective was to set the next-gen urban agenda, with a focus on transforming and repositioning

Mumbai Metropolitan Region into a ‘Livable Metropolis Mumbai’. It brought together academicians, policy makers, urban planners, business leaders, representatives of civil society organisations to ponder over the solution required for ever-growing city.

Dr Nitin Kareer, Principal Secretary (Urban Development) was the chief guest. Many other urban experts including Ranjit Chavan, Director (AIILSG), UPS Madan, Mumbai Metropolitan Commissioner (MMRDA), M Ramchandran, Former UD Secretary, Sudhir Krishna Former UD Secretry, Raj Librehan, Former Director (India Habitat Center), and fellow dignitaries spoke on the various issues of urbanisation, its impact on the Indian cities, and possible steps to make the city a better place to live for the denizens at the conference.

Megacity governance

Urban experts focused on the need of building capacity of government agencies to handle large scale projects efficiently and to complete them in a timely manner. They also highlighted the significance of cooperation and coordination between different agencies working on the development of MMR and providing civic services in Mumbai. Some of the suggestion they made were:

♦♦ The current government officials should be trained and exposed to modern design capacities, to approach the issues of densification without overcrowding, to increase their capacities for larger populations, and to provide better technology solutions to effectively handle such situations. ♦♦ A centralised “war room” equivalent office is required to monitor the progress of the projects and development of the city. The office needs to look at the environmental and land issues that come in implementation of such projects. ♦♦ Currently, there are close to 17 different agencies working on different sectors for the city. A single point of accountability has to be structured in to build in coordination between the agencies.

This may require a constitutional amendment. ♦♦ The Concept plan prepared by Mumbai First should be formally adopted by the government and accepted for further action. ♦♦ The ULBs have to become self sufficient, and become growth centres on their own. ♦♦ There is a need to shift on the MMR region from the Greater Mumbai region. ♦♦ There is a need for Holistic planning

AIILSG Director General Ranjit Chavan delivering the inaugural address at the Urban Dialogues conference ‘Livable Metropolis Mumbai’

for the MMR. ♦♦ The new relaxation of regulation in the Coastal Regulation Zone or the possibility of opening up the port lands, and such other incentives to increase the economic activities, should be looked at with caution, and with proper consideration for environmental impacts and carrying capacities of the region. ♦♦ Emphasis has to be laid on planning open spaces in the city. Mill areas can be a great potential for creating green spaces in the city. ♦♦ Impacts of Climate Change, rising water temperature, diseases due to flooding, etc, should be planned for through proactive measures for the MMR. ♦♦ Development of newer areas in the MMR region should be done on the successful models of Town planning schemes, as done in Ahmadabad and Nagpur. ♦♦ The Regional Plan of MMRDA should lay out the vision and strategy for what will get constructed on the ground, and the Development plan of Mumbai should incorporate this. ♦♦ We need to give emphasis on proper urban planning of our city and that will result in ease in governing it. A well designed city will lead to better governance. ♦♦ We need to ensure that the economic growth of MMR is supported by its environmental health and equitable development of all. ♦♦ Mumbai needs to bring its cost of doing business down to be able to attract the new business economies such as IT and telecom, which prefer smaller cities for business. ♦♦ Mumbai has to become affordable to be able to attract industries other than just the tertiary sector industries. ♦♦ While preparing the Master plan of the cities, we have to take cognizance of the existing slums and provide measure to deal with them, we cannot ignore them. ♦♦ There has to be rationalisation of how FSI is decided for a certain area. Parameters of transport corridors should be considered and

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2015

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Urban Dialogues | Liveable Metropolis Mumbai

it should be linked to the landuse plan of the region.

Efficient public transport

Mobility is also a crucial component hindering the development process of the city, as the population influx remains endless. ♦♦ The MMR needs an efficient public transport system, with a combination of transport modes for it to reduce the commute times of its citizens. With a larger area of the MMR, the number of people having to travel larger distances is more. ♦♦ The existing transportation systems have to be augmented to better serve the public. The Railway system has to be upgraded, with better technology to have faster commute times. ♦♦ New modes of transport should be introduced such as the Metro and Monorail, after taking cognizance of the financial resources it would need, the logistics and manpower required to manage it and the displacement impacts it would have.

♦♦ Systems such as the Bus Rapid Transit Systems (BRTS), which are less capital intensive, can be completed in a short duration should be considered. BRTS needs to be planned in an integrated grid manner and not as a stand-alone system. ♦♦ Mumbai is planning and requires three trans-harbor links, instead of these being all for vehicular/car traffic, we should look at at-least one as the only rail connection. ♦♦ As a Smart city concept, we should develop public transport such as that owning a car becomes redundant, and/or extremely expensive. ♦♦ National urban policy talks about moving people not cars, thus our transport systems should focus on mass transit systems more than roads for private cars.

Affordable housing

The government data shows that over 55 percent of Mumbai population still lives in slums. Many slum rehabilitation plans initiated by the government

failed in the city as they could not connect housing with the jobs. To build a better Mumbai, the government shall develop a strategy to provide housing to the poor at affordable rates and should build a mechanism in the slum rehabilitation plans that solve the problems of the poor living in slums.

The government should also think over the option of rental housing. There were many recommendations from the experts to solve the housing problem in Mumbai. Some of them were: ♦♦ To ensure that jobs and housing are provided close together. ♦♦ Rent Control Act – currently provides no incentives for a private agency to do rental housing. The Supreme Court should give its decision on the Rent control Act. ♦♦ Public rental market has to be created with a management system in place. Private sector will have to be incentivised for maintenance and management of rental housing. ♦♦ A tax or penalty on unoccupied houses, to pressurise owners to rent their vacant properties. ♦♦ For private sector to participate in

Dignateries releasing the outcome report of Urban Dialogues on ‘Housing for All’ at the conference

36 February 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

♦♦

♦♦ ♦♦ Fritz Kuhn, Mayor of Stuttgart, speaking at the Urban Dialogues conference

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rental housing we should ensure that the rental property will yield at least 6% or more for the owner.

Incentivising to reduce the capital cost of construction could also be looked at.

The Public sector has to develop an understanding of the economics of the private sector, and create schemes to make it attractive for private sector to provide affordable housing.

The expense of maintenance of rental housing is high, and the rent thus has to be commensurate to it.

Rents cannot be subsidised at the cost of poor maintenance.

In line with the Jan-Dhan Yojana, when people get their bank accounts, these could be leveraged for housing loans.

Government should look at public private partnerships in creation of Affordable housing. Here the land and allocation of housing could be the governments, and private sector would construct the housing and provide it.

Affordable housing can be designed and constructed if land is made available at an affordable rate. Land is the main variable for determining the cost of the housing.

Competitive land use in the MMR region push the Affordable housing

land requirement to the end and thus land is always in short supply for housing. We need to rethink the priorities. Housing the 55% slum dwellers should become a priority. ♦♦ Measures should be enforced to prevent speculative housing transactions.

Clean Mumbai

Swachcha Bharat Mission is in full swing across the country. The Ministry of Urban Development has allotted over Rs 135 cr to Maharashtra for cleaning and building toilets under the mission. Agencies which are dealing with the civic services and sanitation in the megacity should devise a foolproof plan to make Mumbai a clean city. Segregation of waste at source, building of toilets, and spread awareness among people to not litter through advertisements and imposing fines were some of the measures suggested to make Mumbai a clean city. Other suggestion which came out of deliberations during the conference were: ♦♦ For a sustainable Solid Waste Management system, Community Participation is very essential and the corporations should have an open dialogue with the public for the same. ♦♦ A good system has to include all

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four parameters viz segregation, collection, transportation and disposal. Segregation has to be at source.

In Mumbai 100 percent of the waste is currently unprocessed. Greater Mumbai has to urgently comply to install processing facilities for the waste by April 2015, and the progress till date is unknown. We need to take status of the same.

The issues of corruption and lack of proper governance in the SWM has to be investigated and resolved.

Awareness generation is crucial for segregation of waste at source and is an important component of Solid Waste management system for Mumbai. We have had successful examples through ALMs on segregation and people’s participation.

Segregation of waste has to be made mandatory. Penalty or punitive action has to be determined and enforced for persons not complying for the same.

Use Technology for Solid waste Management The Performance Assessment System, has set Service level Benchmarks that can assist cities to achieve better services.

Capacity building of the government official to use the PAS system has to be done and support is provided to increase their confidence in using the technology.

PAS has the capability for providing a series of decision supporting tools, based on calibrated measurements to improve the performance of the system.

The PAS system can also provide support for developing ideas for monetising the system.

Sanitation and solid waste management are very crucial for the livability of any city, but these are unfortunately always neglected.

We need to prioritise these areas and undertake proper planning for it.

Better technologies for composting have to be identified.

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2015

37

Special Feature | Vibrant Gujarat Summit

Investors’ summit turns Gujarat into business hub The idea to create a platform for global business development for the states in the country brought in the conceptulisation of the Vibrant Gujarat Summit Team Urban Update

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he three-day ‘Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2015 kicked off on January 11, 2015 at Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar, in the

Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaking at the inaugural event of the Vibrant Gujarat Summit ‘15

38 February 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and business conglomerates and other leaders from India and abroad.

The seventh summit sets an example of a visionary approach of the state government towards its emphasis on

sustainable and inclusive development of Gujarat.

“Gujarat’s development journey is now on an auto pilot mode. With robust world class infrastructure, business friendly policies and the unflinching

commitment of its people for growth, Gujarat has achieved a consistent double digit growth rate. Vibrant Gujarat Summit since the year 2003. With the support of all the stakeholders, it has grown from an investment promotion event to a growth propelling event.

Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit that had started as a business meet, today metamorphosed into an International Knowledge Sharing Platform. The Vibrant Gujarat Summit is not only a global event but also a globally soughtafter event. Participation in this event is a good business decision in itself….”

Said Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the inauguration of the event.

“The 2015 edition of the Vibrant Gujarat summit is all about “globalising” the event and taking it into a higher orbit with the help of the eight partner countries who have co-sponsored the event, said Saurabh Patel, the Gujarat minister, in charge of organising the summit.

“Vibrant Gujarat is the Davos of the East. We want it to be as famous as Davos,” says Patel.

The Vibrant Gujarat Summit started in 2003. The idea was conceived by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the then the Chief Minister of Gujarat.

The idea was to create a brand “Vibrant Gujarat”, which all States could follow. The yearly summits gradually converted into “investors summit”. All these summits have been successful in making Gujarat a “Global Business Hub” today. It has gradually been transformed into a perfect platform for sharing knowledge, social and business information.

The summits have been a great success in showing the growth prospects of the state, its strengths, progressive attitude and the plans and initiatives taken so far to provide effective governance, investor friendly atmosphere and strengthening of art and culture. “ The government has changed its

policy to attract foreign investment in the defence sector. We will get more investment in defence equipment manufacturing. We expect to get investments in textiles, clean energy and infrastructure sectors,” says Patel, outlining the objectives of this year’s Vibrant Gujarat event.

The prime objective of the summit was inclusive development of the State, which includes: Sustainability, Innovation, Skill development, Youth development, Networking, Knowledge sharing.

Parallel to Vibrant Gujarat summit, Vibrant Gujarat Global Trade Show 2015 was also organised. Stated as India’s largest Exhibition venues ever, the show had 15 pavilions with state-of-the-art business centre stalls with inbuilt cubicles for one-to-one meeting. Countires such as Japan, Singapore, Netherlands, UK, USA, Australia Denmark, Canada, Sweden Bahrain, Israel, Afghanistan UAE, Poland, Astrakhan Province (Russia) also organised their country seminar on sidelines of the main event.

The summit’s outcome included that the investment commitments that the State had managed to get from Corporates of a big sum of Rs 25 lakh crore. The investment figures for the State have risen continually, from a Rs 66,000 crore in 2003 to Rs 20.83 lakh crore in 2011, and Rs 25 lakh crore in 2015.

More than 21,000 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) were signed during this summit, out of which over 17,000 were related to micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) sector.

Around 4,000 MoUs were signed related to large sector industries and 10,119 for Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation. The number of MoUs signed this year was more than the previous summit by 3,585.

The Gujarat government also entered into more than 1,200 strategic partnership agreements with focus on

36 sectors. Mukesh Ambani, chief of Reliance Industries, on the lines of the event announced that his group would invest Rs 1 lakh crore in the next one year across various businesses. Kumar Mangalam Birla of Aditya Birla Group also announced investment plans for Rs 20,000 crore in Gujarat.

Apart from Indian investments, there were lucrative foreign deals too.

The US business delegation that came to attend the summit has considered a potential investment target of around $41 billion in India in the next 3-4 years.

Sam Walsh, the CEO of the Australian mining giant Rio Tinto announced that the group would add 30,000 jobs in diamond cutting industry in the State.

Diversified Kalyani Group has sought to invest Rs 600 crore for up-gradation and overhaul of Armoured Fighting Vehicles unit at Dholera, Gujarat.

Welspun Renewables announced Rs 8,300 crore investment to set up 1,000 MW solar and wind capacities in Gujarat.

Osamu Suzuki, chairman of Japanese auto giant Suzuki Corp on the event expressed that he considered the State to be superior in terms of infrastructure and administration.

Meanwhile World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, said tax and subsidy reforms are required for inclusive growth in the country. He also said that the country is likely to grow at a rate of 6.4% in 2015 and will grow further in the next year on following the steps taken by the Narendra Modi-led Government.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said that Narendra Modi’s slogan of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas” inspired him greatly.

While Ban Ki-moon, SecretaryGeneral, UN, said that Gujarat can be the crossroad for development.

Simon Smits, Vice-Minister of Foreign Trade, Govt. of the Netherlands, said that Vibrant Gujarat is a flagship event for investment in India.

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2015

39

TECH MATTERS | Smart Lighting

Illuminating smart The country is yet to develop measures to ensure optimum methods to procure solutions to build smart cities. Smart lighting is one component that city planners need to focus on to make the cities an asset to its denizens Jesyy Iype, Desk Editor & Reporter

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treet lighting has not been designed, operated and maintained efficiently in many cities.

Therefore the energy consumption for city street lighting in India is very high.

With new energy efficient lighting equipment and good controls are now available on the Indian market, these options should be explored, feels the energy sector.

The companies looked to tap opportunities, especially in the energy efficiency sector for both in-house and street lighting, which could suit well with the requirements of the smart cities.

As lighting goes digital – an LED is a semiconductor and thus lends itself well to communication networks – the industry is positioning itself as the foundation for modern urban networks.

Lights would not only become easier to control both remotely and by onsite sensors that detect whether or not they’re needed at any one moment, but their electronic housings would also accommodate sensors that could relay information. They could, for example provide updates on traffic, on crowds or on air quality, among many other possibilities.

“If the government is saying that there would be 100 smart cities coming up, then of course LED lighting would play a big part in it,” says Sumit Joshi, Philips Lighting’s senior director marketing in India.

Clearly, low-power wireless devices like these are much more reliable when they’re backed up by a ubiquitous building-wide network, such as the one that comes from putting a wireless node at every light in the room.

Fewer than one in ten buildings today actively manage their lighting, they take up a quarter to a third of a

typical commercial building’s energy bill. The barrier has been the high cost of installing wired networks to get lights to do simple things like shut off when people leave the room, or on a schedule.

Wireless solutions can cut the upfront installation cost drastically, although the nodes themselves still have to be retrofitted into lighting systems, or embedded into devices -LED drivers, fluorescent light ballasts, and the like -- at the factory. The latter option is expected to make smart lighting cheaper still.

OCCU revolution

The OccuSwitch from Philips is a movement detector with a built-in switch. These switches put the lights off in a room or area when it is vacated and thus save up to 30 percent on electricity The OccuSwitch can switch any load of up to 6 A and control an area of between 20 and 25 m.

Features

Benefits ♦♦ Energy savings of up to 30 percent and good pay-back ♦♦ Works with almost all lamp- and luminaire types ♦♦ Easy to install, enables even faster installation by optional Wieland connectors

40 February 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

♦♦ OccuSwitch has a smart timer that will extend the delay time by 10 minutes if movement is detected shortly after switch-off, assuming that the area is still in use ♦♦ It has a retractable shield that can be used to shield off areas, e.g. corridors, adjacent to the area it is controlling ♦♦ Occuswitch has a knob with the “SUN” engraved with a + and – sign on the plastic. This is used to set the threshold level for the amount of light reaching the sensor ♦♦ The threshold level can be changed from 100 to 1500 lux. Depending on

the threshold set if the sensor senses that incident light is higher than the threshold set, then the lights will not be switched on, even if presence is detected. The lights will only switch on if presence is sensed and the incident light on the Sensor is lower than the threshold set ♦♦ Daylight Switching: It is also possible to make the Occuswitch to switch the lights off when sufficient daylight becomes available during the occupied period, and turn them back on again when the light level drops below the required level

Urban Agriculture | CASE STUDY

Farming in cities In the upcoming influx of urbanisation, and the numerous going hungry, it is important to realise and sustain the resources for procuring food for future generations…

Jesyy Iype, Desk Editor & Reporter

C

ities booming with its populace, and estimates

by UN suggesting twothirds of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050, governments are finding hard to help them sustain food requirements. Some causes being the gap between exporting the farm produce from the rural area.

Other could be the role of middlemen taking most of profits. The transportation and storage being the main crunch, now, cities globally have adopted a unique technique to procure produce as well retain them – ‘Urban farming over rooftops’.

Cities in rich and poor countries alike are set to swell and cause more pollution by transporting food from rural area, versus just over half now, indicates a UN study. Underground and on rooftops, farms take root in big cities are trying to help feed the world’s booming cities by farming in urban spaces.

An organic farm above your head Fresh and Local in Mumbai, has set up an organic farm on top of a low-income building since 2012. The 2,000-squarefoot farm grows items such as pomegranates, chillies, and bay leaves for the building’s 50 families and 20 small businesses

Chillies on top

Indian social businesses are setting up small farms on the rooftops of crowded apartment blocks. The country whose urban population is forecast to double to more than 800 million people by 2050, the idea of fitting farms into cities that already heave with people might seem impossible. But the lack of space on the ground has spurred an increase in rooftop farming, using the flat tops of apartment blocks.

Fresh and Local, a social business in Mumbai, has run an organic farm on top of a low-income building since 2012.

The 2,000-square-foot farm grows items such as pomegranates, chillies, and bay

leaves for the building’s 50 families and 20 small businesses.

Fresh and Local is being hired to help set up two to three new urban farms in the city every six months, says founder Adrienne Thadani.

“There is a lot of misconceptions (such as) that there’s no space, which isn’t true,” he said. “For every building in Bombay, you have that square footage of flat roof.”

Gardens of Abundance, is another project in Hyderabad, a southern city of 8.7 million people, has likewise set up 10 organic rooftop vegetable gardens since 2012. It has held workshops at 20 apartment blocks over the past year.

As per the UN study Garden plots can produce up to 20 kilograms (44 lbs.) of food per square meter per year. Many urban farming groups do not provide such figures for their production because yields vary with factors such as location and seed quality, they said.

Urban farming remains niche, partly because setting up a mid-sized plot requires time and money. Thadani gets his basic materials brought in from as far away as 150 kilometers (93 miles) outside Mumbai.

Governments sometimes step in to help. Some Indian states provide subsidised growing kits.

Aside from cutting food miles – the distance it takes food to get from the grower to the plate – urban farming can have other benefits that are harder to measure, such as giving city-dwellers more knowledge about and control over their food.

Indian cities have a high demand for reliable supplies of safe vegetables. Poor infrastructure often causes food to rot en route from rural areas.

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2015

41

VOX - POP | Land Fills

Overflowing heaps... anybody listening?

Piles of waste, unsegregated and lay unattended are generating unhygienic conditions in the near by areas of the national capital’s landfills. Proper waste management in terms of land space, suitable technology to segregate waste is need of the hour...

Jessy Iype, Desk Editor & Reporter

I

n a country where the nature of waste management is non defined because the authority lies with Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) due to the public and local nature of the service, helping cities combat waste management issues, especially at the landfill sites needs to be addressed at the earliest.

With most cities and towns urbanising rapidly there has been a marked shift in the quantities and quality of waste generated across the country, especially in the national capital of Delhi. A huge environmental hazard looms over the capital as the city’s three landfill sites - Okhla, Bhalswa and Ghazipur - continue to accumulate garbage beyond their shelf life.

A study done by Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Department of Environment has shown that the ground soil of these three sites harbor organic pollutants exceeding the permissible limits by up to 158 times.

Delhi is staring at a humungous disaster. With a killer stench and health hazards following it, the capital’s waste dumping grounds are pushing limits.

To help ease out the piles of trash, alternative sites could be used to dump the 9,000 tonnes of daily garbage as well as to process it efficiently. It is estimated that about 80 per cent of it can be converted into energy or compost or any other useful by-product.

42 February 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

Yet, nothing has been done, so far.

Ignorance a bliss?

The Delhi High Court had recently constituted a committee where it found that surprisingly not much had been done on the landfill sites.

It was found that no alternative site for landfill had been provided and no concrete step had been taken to recycle the waste. While the three present sites at Ghazipur, Bhalaswa and Okhla are already overflowing reached saturation point. The situation is scarier has the daily release of garbage is expected to jump to 18,000 tonnes by 2021, committee said.

These sites were found to be high on compounds like aliphatics, terpenoids, benzenes, ketones, pharmaceuticals and phthalates which do not degrade with time, enter the food chain quickly and cause a variety of health issues such as hormone disruption, reproductive disorders, learning disabilities, heart diseases, diabetes and cancer.

Unfortunately, no standard maximum allowable discharge limit for landfill leachate is there in India, so the limits set by developed countries such as Germany were used as a guideline in the present study by JNU. Avikal Somvanshi, senior researcher, Centre for Science and Environment told Urban Update: “ We generate so much of waste that we cannot keep track of the figures. Currently the situation is growing from bad to worse

as we do not practice segregation at source.”

“There is utility in the most of the waste, for e.g., malba or construction building materials. Rather than throwing them away and choking the rivers, we can reuse them as they are in demand in the construction industry.”

“Cities are not able to manage the urban solid waste. There is an issue right from collection, segregation to disposal. Delhi alone generates about 7,000 tonnes of waste per day, but only a portion of it is collected, out of which very less waste is disposed in a scientific manner,” he added.

Segregate it

In India, segregation and storage of MSW at source is lacking and the decomposable and non-decomposable wastes are often disposed off at a common communal dustbin/disposal centre.

The waste should be segregated first for incineration as direct dumping creates ripple effects while setting up waste to energy methods. Also, the arena should be an industrial place, to protect the urban populace being exposed to toxins generated from waste, feels Somvanshi.

To segregate, there is an ardent need of suitable technology so that the waste is sorted in accordance to its recycling ability.

Rakesh Kumar, Director, NEERI

India has less land space for waste. The population influx seems never-ending. The role of PPP is essential as the cost and gestation period will increase in terms of the benefit of the land or landfill site

“

Rajesh Jain Managing Director, WAPP

told Urban Update: “Technology can be brought, but it has to be adapted in Indian requirements and customised according to the areas characteristics in terms of environment, land among others.” NB Mazumdar, IL&FS Environmental Infrastructure & Services Ltd (IEISL) told Urban Update : “There is only one sanitary landfill (SLF) in Delhi at Narela-Bawana site. Apart from that, there are three dumpsites, which are exhausted in capacity. The dumpsites need to be scientifically capped, taking care of leachate and landfill gas generated.

The capping should be such that rain water does not percolate inside, as was done at Gorai in Mumbai. New sites are required for setting up SLFs.”

Structuring vital

The presence of a large informal sector that remains un-integrated into the formal waste management system coupled by inadequate mechanisation owing to the poor financial health of the ULBs has made the management and delivery of a well structured waste management system, a herculean task.

The role of private players here is vital.

“The judiciary has been reacting in frustration to the scenario, even though there are rules, there is no structuring in projects. We see water supply projects are regularised and structured in view as to what is the nature of water metres, what is the supply chain and so

Incineration is followed in metros globally but there is no prescribed emission standards followed by India uptil now

Irfan Hanjerwala Founder, Hanjer Biotech

“

on, we should have a regular structure for waste management, else the role of PPP will be a struggle.”

“The applicable rule on municipal solid waste (MSW Rule 2000, under revision at present) has detailed checklist of do’s and don’ts regarding design and operation of landfilling. In addition the Manual on Municipal Solid Waste, 2000 (under revision at present) gives adequate guidance on technology and procedure. To minimise landfill space, the rule states that only nonbiodegradable and non-recyclable waste should be landfilled,” said Mazumdar.

Even though as per the Supreme Court’s directive in February 2, 2000 to direct sites for landfills bearing the requirement of Delhi, till date no new sites have been provided nor have steps been taken towards recycling of waste. One recycling plant under each corporation fail to handle the load.

The municipal corporations in Delhi continue to dump at these three saturated sites ignoring a Delhi Pollution Control Committee ban imposed five years ago. In fact, private participation in the provision of MSW services is not new, several corporation, municipalities have employed private contractors for secondary transportation from the communal bins or collection points to the disposal sites since 1985. This is further complicated by the presence of a large informal sector (mainly consisting of rag pickers) that predominantly remains outside the PPP framework.

“ULBs require optimum guidance which are not created by vendors, but stringent guidelines that are outlined by the government,” Kumar said.

Rajesh Jain, Managing Director, WAPP said: “India has less land space for waste and the population influx seems never-ending.” Jain feels the role of PPP is essential as the cost and gestation period will increase in terms of for the benefit of the land or landfill site.

Waste to Energy

The Planning Commission’s task force on waste to energy (W2E)

recently recommended a publicprivate partnership(PPP) model for a combination of waste management technologies, including W2E plants, bio-methanation and composting, that can be integrated to reduce the load on landfills.

For larger cities like Delhi, it mainly recommends W2E plants that generate power through gasification, incineration and other methods.

The task force headed by K Kasturirangan suggests tax incentives to make them financially viable and a “target of setting up 215 W2E plants by 2031 to generate 1075MW power”.

But it is not a smooth ride as it seems, feels Rahul Chhabra, CEO, Proton Enviro Solutions Pvt Ltd. “W2E is only possible in bigger cities like in Delhi, Mumbai, where waste is generated in huge amounts. The core issue is that there is no awareness and efficiency in transportation, collection of waste. Habits like segregation at source, not littering is not practiced,” he told Urban Update.

Chhabra said: “There is need of set guidelines in W2E. While it is the next big thing it is a far fledged dream as potential tariff for electricity is vague.

The cost of capital is very high to build waste to energy plants, which India cannot afford as the municipal bodies are cash strapped. W2E investment is 50 times than a regular compost plant. The environmental factors are also involved as a W2E plant generates emissions and to get technologies to filter them will take time.”

“There is a requirement to understand the dynamics of the concept before implementation,” he added.

Noted environmentalist Manoj Misra agrees: “A city like Delhi must plan aggressively towards a ‘zero’ garbage/ waste status whereby all solid waste is properly segregated and then either composted or recycled and reused.”

Aiming to mobilise masses and seeks to create a clean India through mass campaigns, it must also be noted that it is an ardent requirement to address the overflowing landfill and space issue. If it is not address in time, the problem can aggravate beyoynd repair.

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2015

43

CENTRE STAGE | Pre-buget Analysis

Cities’ aspirations from Budget 2015-16 With increasing urbanisation in the country, India needs a comprehensive financial architecture to sustain its economical design. The Budget should help cities achieve and sustain their economical aspirations…

U

rbanisation has always been accepted as a positive feature of the social and economic development of the country. The Indian urban population crossed 31 percent mark in 2011 and is projected to reach 40 percent of the total population in next 15 to 20 years. In fact, it could grow even faster, as India is steadily globalising towards much higher levels of urbanisation.

But India has learnt to be the nation of ever evolving, because earlier it was a reluctant urbaniser, and continued to nurture the wish - both secret and professed in public policies - that it remained rural. As a result, the successive Five-year Plan (FYP) documents did not take the head-on issues relating to urban development. As a result, the cities became increasingly populated, but without concomitant growth in the city infrastructure. This led to a breakdown of civic services and growth of slums. Side by side, the local governance structure remained feeble, despite the enactment of the 73rd and 74th Amendments in 1993, which upheld a prominent role for the local bodies.

Develop Census Towns

Dr Sudhir Krishna Former Secretary Urban Development, GoI

44 February 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

Another interesting feature of urbanisation has been that states remain reluctant to notify populous rural settlements as towns under the relevant municipal laws, owing to the fear that the free flowing grants that come for the rural sector, would be replaced by the conditional grants which is the normal

characteristic of the central grants for the urban sector. Even local population of an expanding village does not appreciate any major benefit of getting declared as a town. In the bargain, the expanding villages, called as ‘Census Towns’, which usually are on the margins of existing cities, continued to grow without proper spatial or infrastructure plans for seamless growth and connectivity with the main cities. Such Census Towns grew in number from 1,362 in 2001 to 3,892 in 2011, whereas the notified statutory towns grew from 3,799 to only 4,041.

There is an urgent need to develop a paradigm to bring the Census Towns in the folds of Statutory Municipal and Town Planning Laws.

Allocation of budget

Acceptance of the need to strengthen urban governance and augment the civic infrastructure came about in 2005, with the launch of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM), which was approved for the period ending with the terminal year of the 12th FYP, i.e., 2011-12, to be implemented by the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) and Ministry of Housing & Urban poverty Alleviation (MoHUPA). The urban infrastructure development was assigned to MoUD, while the housing component, to MoHUPA. The overall central allocation for the MoUD component for 2005-2012 was of the order of Rs. 42,900 crore, with proportionate contribution from the state governments and the local bodies.

The MoUD sanctioned as many as 1,339 projects worth Rs. 79,220 crore under

water supply, sanitation, transport, etc., and a similar trend was seen in respect of the MoHUPA component as well.

Of the 1,339 sanctioned projects, as many as 679 were completed by end of that period and the remaining were at various stages of completion. During 2012-13, no new project was sanctioned and in 2013-14, another 296 projects were sanctioned under the transition phase, awaiting announcement of the Phase-II of the JnNURM. However, in May 2014, the new regime that took the reign of the central government decided to take a fresh look at the JnNURM and started working on the fresh paradigm.

JnNURM’s pivotal role

♦♦

The experience of JnNURM during the period 2005-2014 indicated that wherever the state and the local governments took the programme seriously, the projects led to substantial benefits, in terms of improved water supply, better sewage management and popular city bus services. The programme also led to improvements in the local governance systems, as the release of central funds was linked to achievement of governance reforms.

In some sectors, particularly, the solid waste management, the achievements were not so noteworthy, but these also turned out to be excellent lessons for the future.

♦♦

Promise for the 2015-16

♦♦

The Budget 2015-16 would need unequivocally declared support for planned urbanisation and necessary fiscal measures for bringing such declaration to reality in a short span of time, with visible result within one or two years. The following specific measures could be considered for the purpose, for the ensuing fiscal: ♦♦ Central government should declare its clear support to encourage planned urbanisation by way of both, infrastructure development and governance reforms in the cities. ♦♦ Each city should be supported to prepare a Master Plan, including

♦♦

for its peri-urban areas, which can notify the framework for seamless mobility, adequate drainage, management of solid waste and sewage, housing, with focus on the weaker section, and concomitant support systems and services. The government of India (GOI) should provide 80 percent of the cost of this exercise, while the balance should come from the local body concerned. Each plan would, on an average cost about Rs 50 lakh and take a maximum of one year to prepare, if it uses the geo-spatial maps such as the Bhuvan and the framework of the National Urban Information System (NUIS), supported by MoUD. The Master Plan should also delineate phases for the development of the infrastructure and the City should propose projects as per those phases. An annual allocation of Rs. 10,000 crore from the GOI would be appropriate, keeping in view the past trend of needs and implementation.

Each project should be prepared with financial viability in view, with returns coming from user charges as well as recycling of the waste.

To bridge the viability gap, despite user charges, the viability gap fund (VGF) should be made available, up to the extent of 50 percent, 30 percent from the GOI and 20 percent from the states.

All Census Towns should be notified as municipalities forthwith.

However, the flow of funds from the Ministry of Rural Development may be allowed to continue for 5 years in a tapering off manner.

Also, GOI should provide a capital grant of Rs 10 crore and annual revenue grant of Rs 2 crore to each such newly notified municipality, to enable it develop its administrative infrastructure.

Each town should be provided financial support to launch/ augment city bus transport system based on the principle of financial viability coupled with VGF, as proposed above.

♦♦ States should be encouraged to notify Regional Planning & Development Authorities, that would not only prepare regional plans but would also undertake execution of regional infrastructure such as for water supply, transport or waste management. ♦♦ States should be discouraged from rushing to the Metro Rail systems, except when financial viability is clearly established. The Bus Rapid Transit system and other bus based systems should be promoted as the basic transport systems for the cities. ♦♦ A special programme for rejuvenation and beautification of the water bodies in the cities and surrounding areas may be notified, with substantial financial support from the Central Government. ♦♦ Waste management may be given enhanced priority and each city should be supported to prepare City Sanitation Plan, with 100 per cent recycling and reuse of all types of waste. Bio- toilets may be given extraordinary attention and support. ♦♦ Governance reforms, such as e-Governance and actual implementation of the 73rd and 74th Amendment provisions, should be made a pre-condition for release of even the first installment of the central grants. ♦♦ In addition to the above, a framework for development of database relating to the core information about the city may be encouraged. A lot of efforts have been made in this direction in the past by the MoUD as well as by many of the States. and the same can be recalled to determine a sustainable way forward. ♦♦ All in all, the Budget 2015-16 should give a positive thrust to planned urbanisation, based on the principles of inclusiveness and sustainability. That would surely place India on the path of accelerated development and growth, not only of the urban areas but for the country as a whole.

www.urbanupdate.in | February 2015

45

URBAN AGENDA | Swachh Bharat

Sanitation needs community intervention

S

olid waste in the urban sector is acquiring the proportions of a menace.

Although India has the most comprehensive Municipal Solid Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000, in the absence of proper enforcement and implementation, it is just a little more than a mere directive on paper, which has failed to bring much respite to the urban residents across the country. Almost every Indian city has ongoing waste management projects, but no project is operating at the optimum level.

Much has been talked about the issues relating to urban governance, financial health of corporations and marketability of products from recycling, at various forums. But, although waste is a communitybased issue, the required bottoms-up approach is still amiss from the projects.

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s flagship initiative Swachh Bharat Mission, which took off as a broomstick road-sweeping campaign has recently taken shape in the form of a published guideline. It lays emphasis on building toilets and effecting behavioural changes amongst communities. The vision alone is never enough; effective implementation against a welldesigned plan is the need of the hour.

The herculean task of managing solid waste cannot be completed without people-led initiatives and involvement of all the stakeholders playing a vital role in its successful implementation.

As SWM is a concerted effort of all stakeholders – civic agencies, RWAs, communities, ragpickers, NGOs,

46 February 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

private parties and the government – each one has to play a proactive role to make it a success.

NGOs have always proved to be a major catalyst in mobilising community action. They have the expertise to systematically initiate the programme, put the system in place, monitor its progress and provide valuable guidance.

Although seldom counted, informal sector contributes substantially to waste management. Therefore, rag pickers’ need to be strengthened, mainstreamed and sustainably engaged in the waste management system.

Similarly, residents’ welfare associations can play a crucial role in awareness generation on segregation at source and making waste generators part of the waste handling process.

Some innovative projects, like Bhagidari and Bangalore Agenda Task Force, have seen public participation, and stakeholders’ engagement facilitated financial mobilisation for the cause. Another recent example of a successful community initiative was seen in Nagpur, where an abused and polluted Nag river was restored to its original glory with the help of residents of the city through a well-coordinated campaign.

Information about such projects should, however, be disseminated properly before their execution, so as to obtain the desired results. Public at large need to be educated and informed about the economics of a joint effort, which would result in huge savings by way of utilisation at source, leading to reduction in manpower, transportation, health services and creation of livelihoods for the weaker sections of the society.

Apresh Chandra Mishra Managing Editor apresh@urbanupdate.in

PROJECTS THAT PROVIDE RELIEF FROM TRAFFIC WOES Versova-AndheriGhatkopar Metro Corridor – 11.4 km – 2,356 crore ♦♦ Journey time reduced from 70 minutes to 20 minutes ♦♦ Provides East-West connectivity ♦♦ 4-coach Metro carries 1,178 commuters ♦♦ MMRDA intends to develop a 172-km Metro network Chembur-WadalaGadge Maharaj Chowk Mono Corridor – 20 km – 2,460 crore ♦♦ 9-km Chembur to Wadala corridor successfully launched ♦♦ Journey time reduced from 50 minutes to 20 minutes ♦♦ 4-coach Mono carries 600 commuters ♦♦ The second phase from Wadala to Gadge Maharaj Chowk will be completed next year

Roads completed under MUTP Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road, Santacruz-Chembur Link Road Roads completed under MUIP Eastern Express Highway, Western Express Highway, Swami Vivekanand Marg, Lal Bahadur shastri Marg, Main Link Road, Andheri-Kurla Link Road (Saki Naka to Kurla), Sahar Elevated Road, N.S.Phadke Marg, Saki-Vihar Road, Marol-Maroshi Road, Mahakali Caves Road, B.D.Sawant Road (Dhaku Road), Goregaon-Mulund Link Road (Extended), Sion-Dharavi Road Flyovers completed under MUIP Dahisar ROB, Thakur Complex, Times of India, Dindoshi, Santacruz airport, Barfiwala Lane, Suman Nagar, Navghar, Sion Hospital, King’s Circle, Hindamata, Lalbaug, Milan ROB, Amar Junction Flyovers completed under Extended MUIP Waghbil, Manpada, Patlipada, Panvel, Kapurbawdi-2

Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority Transforming Mumbai Into A World Class City

Eastern Freeway – 16.4 km – 1,464 crore ♦♦ The Freeway connects Southern Mumbai with Eastern suburbs ♦♦ Runs from Orange Gate to Ghatkopar-Mankhurd Link Road ♦♦ Journey time reduced from 90 minutes to 25 minutes ♦♦ The Freeway has been providing quicker connectivity to Thane, Nasik, Pune, Goa sahar Elevated Road – 2 km – 400 crore ♦♦ The Elevated Road is a boon for International Commuters ♦♦ From WEH to International Airport within five minutes ♦♦ The signal-free road provides 3 lanes for up and down traffic ♦♦ The beautiful Palm trees and shrubs offers enjoyable driving experience