~373 cr allocated to city under Urban-Rural Mission : The Tribune India

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~373 cr allocated to city under Urban-Rural Mission

Jalandhar: Gearing up for the 2017 elections, the state government today allocated Rs 373 crore under the highly ambitious Urban and Rural Regeneration Mission to the district.

~373 cr allocated to city under Urban-Rural Mission

Members of the MC Sanitation Workers Union protest at Circuit House during a meeting in Jalandhar on Thursday. Photo: Sarabjit SIngh



Rachna Khaira

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, December 24 

Gearing up for the 2017 elections, the state government today allocated Rs 373 crore under the highly ambitious Urban and Rural Regeneration Mission to the district. 

Manvesh Sidhu, Special Principal Secretary to Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal, today held a meeting with the MLAs of all nine constituencies, including Punjab Transport Minister Ajit Singh Kohar and acting Deputy Commissioner Girish Dayalan, Mayor Sunil Jyoti, Municipal Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Khehra and other senior officials of the district administration at the Circuit House. 

Acting Deputy Commissioner Girish Dayalan said  while Rs 222 crore will be spent in the municipal area that will include the entire area of Jalandhar west, north, central and seven wards of the Jalandhar Cantonment constituency, Rs 123 crores will be spent on the rural areas of the district. 

“Also, Rs 80 crore has been allocated to the urban areas outside the municipal limits in the district and a separate fund for the ongoing Jang-e-Azaadi project,” said Dayalan. He also informed that while the funds for rural areas will come in three installments, the grant for urban areas will come at regular intervals.  

To implement the project, the Punjab Infrastructure and Development Board (PIDB), through a notification issued on December 15, has constituted district urban and rural infrastructure committees under the chairmanship of the respective Deputy Commissioner and has begun seeking infrastructure development proposals majorly pertaining to the construction of roads, water supply and sewerage projects in their respective areas. 

The committees have been mandated the work of conceptualisation, identification, execution and monitoring of the urban and rural infrastructure projects. However, the funds released under the project will only be utilised for the creation of civil infrastructure and not for operation and maintenance (O&M) of the existing facilities.

Under the mission, the committees will define the scope of the work and financial outlay of a project. After giving the technical approval, it will then forward the recommendations to the local government department concerned or the rural development and panchayat department. 

These departments, after scrutinising the proposals, will forward it to PIDB to get approval for funding. Finally, on approval, the PIDB would release the funds directly to the deputy commissioners for execution of the work who would later submit utilisation certificates to the PIDB for the funds utilised under the mission. 

SAD-BJP trump card for 2017 elections?

The project, conceptualised by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, as part of his Mission 2017, aims to pump in a minimum of Rs 50 crore in each of the 117 assembly segments of the state for providing the basic civic amenities. The total money required for the project is Rs 10,000 crore, which would also includes loan interests. 

Parminder Singh Dhindsa, Punjab Finance Minister, while informing about the mission, informed that the government has initially planned to spend around Rs 300 crores in the urban areas and Rs 2,500 crores in rural areas across the state. 

“We are expecting a grant of Rs 1,500 crores under the 13th Finance Commission a part of which will be utilised for the mission. Also, the PIDB annually generates around Rs 2,000 crores as cess money from various sources which will also be utilised under the mission. As the urban mission will take a year’s time to complete, it would get an additional Rs 1,500 crores in the next financial year,” said Dhindsa. 

He also informed that the state government has generated a loan of Rs 2,000 crores from various banks that would further strengthen the mission in the state. However, sources at the PIDB claimed that the government would also utilise the grant that it would get under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT). 

MC sanitation employees gherao Sidhu  

The scene during the meeting of Manvesh Sidhu, Special Principal Secretary to Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal with the MLAs of all nine constituencies and officials of the district administration turned chaotic when sanitation workers led by their president Chandan Grewal gheraoed the Circuit House and asked to meet Sidhu before the meeting. 

They even barged into the meeting room and asked Sidhu to first listen to their demands. The administration had to call extra police force to control the crowd that initially went berserk after being asked to wait outside. 

It was only later when Sidhu left the meeting in between and met the workers that the sanitation workers relented. While informing about the demands, Grewal said though the salaries of the councillors and the mayor had increased manifold, the sanitation workers, including sewer men, are still forced to risk their lives in manholes for a meagre amount of Rs 7,000 per month. They also demanded pension benefits for the employees and also raised their demands for the regularisation of services of contractual employees. 

While opposing the outsourcing of the work of the sanitation workers, the employees threatened to ban the entry of BJP leaders in the ward areas. They also demanded an early redressal of their concerns. 

Sidhu assured the sanitation workers that he would bring their problems to the notice of the Deputy Chief Minister at the earliest. 

Constitution of urban and rural committees  

  • Deputy Commissioner: Chairman 
  • Additional Deputy Commissioner (Development): Member 
  • SDM: Member 
  • Municipal Commissioner/Executive Officer of Municipal Council: Member 
  • PIDB representative: Member 
  • Person nominated by the Deputy Commissioner: Member 

District Rural Infrastructure Committee 

  • Deputy Commissioner: Chairman 
  • Additional Deputy Commissioner (Development): Member 
  • SDM: Member
  • District Development and Panchayat Officer: Member 
  • Block Development Officer: Member 
  • Person nominated by the Deputy Commissioner: Member 
  • PIDB representative: Member 

Projects to be taken up under rural, urban mission 

IT related infrastructure

Transportation: Construction of roads, bridges etc

Urban and rural infrastructure: Water supply and sewerage 

Solid waste management 

Sports and recreational facilities

Irrigation drainage and flood control infrastructure

Educational infrastructure

Environment and pollution control infrastructure

Projects kept out of preview 

Development of parks, construction of religious structures and acquisition of movable assets like computers, sports kits, office furniture and cleaning of ponds.

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