Puri to review progress of new urban missions every month

New Delhi, Oct. 3 (IANS): Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Puri, who completed one month in office on Tuesday, has decided to review the progress of new urban missions once in 15 days with the Secretary, heads of all new urban missions launched during the last three years and other senior officials concerned.

He made it clear that day-long reviews will be undertaken on every first and third Tuesday of the month.

Puri, who left for Kochi on Tuesday for inauguration of a section of the metro rail there, spoke out his mind to all the senior officials of the ministry on Monday on the way forward to ensure effective implementation through intense monitoring of outcomes on the ground.

“Anything that can be measured can be changed. It implies that if we don’t monitor and measure the outcomes, the intended change may not come through” — was his caveat to the senior officials, official sources said.

The Minister also prioritised the outcomes to be monitored under each mission like the number of Waste-to-Wealth projects made functional and toilets built during the fortnight under Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) vis-à-vis targets state-wise, number of water supply connection provided under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), projects completed in each of the first batch of 20 smart cities, affordable houses sanctioned and built under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban), number of persons given skill training and placements enabled besides number of individual and group enterprises provided with subsidised bank loans under Deen Dayal Antyodaya-NULM.

Puri stressed that the progress report should highlight the efforts made by the central and state governments to speed up execution and implementation hurdles resolved during the last 15 days and reasons for delay, if any.

He also underlined the need for effective dissemination of the narrative emerging on the ground under different missions at central, state and city levels through appropriate communication strategies to further improve informed participation of citizens in urban governance, planning and execution.

Stating that about Rs five lakh crore investments/expenditure has been so far approved under new urban missions, Puri stressed that no effort shall be spared to ensure their realisation. He directed that the National Rental Housing Policy and the Model Tenancy Act, under consideration for long, should be finalised at the earliest. He also directed the DDA to immediately notify the Land Pooling Policy cleared by the Ministry quite some time back.

Puri referred to his first month in office as ‘quite eventful’ having announced the PPP Policy to promote private investments in affordable housing, directed a time-bound review of FSI/FAR norms in 53 cities with a population of above one million each and state capitals and a comprehensive review of performance and outcomes under JNNURM, released the New Metro Rail Policy, flagged the issue of safeguarding home buyers’ interest in the context of insolvency proceedings initiated in some cases and approved a Rs 300 crore proposal for quick and visible improvement in solid waste management in the national capital.

He particularly referred to having addressed letters to thousands of Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) in the national capital urging them to ensure segregation of solid waste at source besides decentralised processing of such waste.