*Govt's development plan mantra: merger*
17 nagarpalikas will be merged with four major corporations for uniform
growth
Express News Service
Gandhinagar, February 14: Chanting the development mantra, the Narendra Modi
government on Tuesday announced a landmark decision of merging 17
newly-formed nagarpalikas with municipal corporations of Ahmedabad, Surat,
Vadodara and Jamnagar. The aim: to bring uniformity and rationalisation in
urban development of these four cities.
Announcing the notification, Urban Development Minister I K Jadeja told
Newsline that in the first phase, 17 newly-formed nagarpalikas would be
merged into these four civic bodies. The existing municipalities, including
11 around Ahmedabad, will also be amalgamated with these corporations in the
second phase.
Ahmedabad's seven new nagarpalikas to be clubbed with AMC are Bodakdev,
Makarba, Nava Odhav, Nikol, Vastrapur, Nava Naroda and Thaltej.
The eight to be amalgamated with Surat Municipal Corporation are Amroli,
Chhaparbhatha, Godadara, Parvat, Bamroli, Puna, Unn and Kosad. The Vadodara
and Jamnagar municipal corporations will have Chhani and Bedi nagarpalikas
merged with them respectively.
Ahmedabad Mayor Amit Shah said the effect of merger would depend on the
extent of inclusion of new areas. He said he could say more only after
studying the notification.
Meanwhile, AMC Opposition Leader Himmatsinh Patel said the decision was
taken without taking the opposition into confidence or without calling an
all-party meeting to discuss its pros and cons.
''We will study the notification and assess its impact on various sections
of the society before coming out with a detailed reaction,'' he said.
Municipal Commissioner Anil Mukim said the merger would mean the city's
development would be in a more balanced and integrated manner.
On the increase in tax revenues, Mukim said the rise in income will be
balanced by additional developmental expenditure in the new areas.
Besides extending the city limits, the merger will bring all nagarpalikas
under octroi duty and property tax. At a later stage, water and education
cess will be levied on residents of new areas.
All these 17 local bodies were earlier village panchayats, and had recently
been converted into nagarpalikas on the basis of rise in population.
Elections to these bodies are scheduled for March 16.
Jadeja said after bringing the seven nagarpalikas under AMC, the city's
population (excluding AUDA areas) will increase by 1.89 lakh and swell to
38.24 lakh. Surat city population will rise by 2.95 lakh and touch 27.25lakh.
With this, the number of nagarpalikas across the State will come down to 173
from the present 200.
Calling the decision — made in the Urban Development Year — "historical",
Jadeja said the move will help municipal corporations create adequate
infrastructure and provide basic amenities to residents of new areas.
Besides, it would also help implement new civic projects in a planned manner
under the National Urban Renewal Mission.
Principal Secretary (Urban Development) K Kailashnathan said the new
nagarpalikas don't have adequate funds and technical staff to create the
necessary infrastructure in their respective areas. "Now that they will be
merged, residents will witness planned and uniformed development, though
they should be prepared now to pay taxes being levied by these civic
bodies," he said.
Eleven other municipalities have been merged: Bakrol with Anand, Jalalpor
with Navsari, Bokhira with Porbandar, Adityana with Ranavav, Mogravadi and
Abrama with Valsad, Dungra and Chala with Vapi, and Nagalpur with Mehsana
municipality.
Also, a new municipality — Okha — has been formed by merging Surajkaradi,
Okha and Arambhda municipalities.
Sources in the State Government said that the notification had come into
force with immediate effect, but its implementation would take time. They
said it all depended on how fast the corporations completed legal
formalities like passing a resolution for inclusion of new areas, planning
and location of new checkposts, rules for tax collection, and these from the
State Government.
A decision, they said had been taken in principle to include all the local
bodies into AMC, that are located within the 60-metre ring road. At present,
it was not possible to have exact calculation of post-merger municipal areas
of Ahmedabad because certain localities were not included as their elected
bodies were yet to be consulted.
==========================================================
*Azam talks politics at NURM meeting*
HT Correspondent
Lucknow, February 14
WITH THE deadline for submitting projects to be funded under National Urban
Renewal Mission (NURM) just a month away, the Regional Centre for Urban and
Environmental Studies here organised a workshop for district magistrates,
mayors and executive officers to encourage them to avail its benefits for
their respective cities.
Though the topic for discussion was Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme
for Small and Medium Towns (UIDSSMT) Urban Development Minister Mohd Azam
Khan utilised the occasion in taking pot shots both at his predecessor in
the ministry during the BJP regime and at the Central Government.
Criticising the pro-urban tilt of the schemes under NURM, the minister said
not only the selection of cities under the scheme was biased but its
implementation would also promote migration from villages towards cities.
"The inclusion of Mathura in the seven cities selected by the Centre under
the scheme and dropping Faizbad, which I had suggested because of Ayodhya,
is a case in point as a legislator of the city is close to 10 Janpath," he
said. Without taking the name of former Housing and Urban Development
Minister Lalji Tandon, he said large-scale misappropriation of funds
earmarked for the development of State capital was done during the BJP
regime. "A major example of this wanton misuse of funds was the multi-crore
Gomti river dredging project," he said, adding that he had demanded a
high-level probe over the end utilisation of money spent on all development
projects in the city, which was then the prime minister's constituency.
Stressing on the need for a balanced development of both rural urban areas,
the minister said basic services and needs like housing, medical and
educational facilities should be provided free of cost to the poor.
Director State Urban Development Agency Diwakar Tripathi made a detailed
presentation on how the government could best utilise huge tracts of unused
land for taking care of the housing needs of the underprivileged sections of
the society through the Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme
(IHSDP).
17 nagarpalikas will be merged with four major corporations for uniform
growth
Express News Service
Gandhinagar, February 14: Chanting the development mantra, the Narendra Modi
government on Tuesday announced a landmark decision of merging 17
newly-formed nagarpalikas with municipal corporations of Ahmedabad, Surat,
Vadodara and Jamnagar. The aim: to bring uniformity and rationalisation in
urban development of these four cities.
Announcing the notification, Urban Development Minister I K Jadeja told
Newsline that in the first phase, 17 newly-formed nagarpalikas would be
merged into these four civic bodies. The existing municipalities, including
11 around Ahmedabad, will also be amalgamated with these corporations in the
second phase.
Ahmedabad's seven new nagarpalikas to be clubbed with AMC are Bodakdev,
Makarba, Nava Odhav, Nikol, Vastrapur, Nava Naroda and Thaltej.
The eight to be amalgamated with Surat Municipal Corporation are Amroli,
Chhaparbhatha, Godadara, Parvat, Bamroli, Puna, Unn and Kosad. The Vadodara
and Jamnagar municipal corporations will have Chhani and Bedi nagarpalikas
merged with them respectively.
Ahmedabad Mayor Amit Shah said the effect of merger would depend on the
extent of inclusion of new areas. He said he could say more only after
studying the notification.
Meanwhile, AMC Opposition Leader Himmatsinh Patel said the decision was
taken without taking the opposition into confidence or without calling an
all-party meeting to discuss its pros and cons.
''We will study the notification and assess its impact on various sections
of the society before coming out with a detailed reaction,'' he said.
Municipal Commissioner Anil Mukim said the merger would mean the city's
development would be in a more balanced and integrated manner.
On the increase in tax revenues, Mukim said the rise in income will be
balanced by additional developmental expenditure in the new areas.
Besides extending the city limits, the merger will bring all nagarpalikas
under octroi duty and property tax. At a later stage, water and education
cess will be levied on residents of new areas.
All these 17 local bodies were earlier village panchayats, and had recently
been converted into nagarpalikas on the basis of rise in population.
Elections to these bodies are scheduled for March 16.
Jadeja said after bringing the seven nagarpalikas under AMC, the city's
population (excluding AUDA areas) will increase by 1.89 lakh and swell to
38.24 lakh. Surat city population will rise by 2.95 lakh and touch 27.25lakh.
With this, the number of nagarpalikas across the State will come down to 173
from the present 200.
Calling the decision — made in the Urban Development Year — "historical",
Jadeja said the move will help municipal corporations create adequate
infrastructure and provide basic amenities to residents of new areas.
Besides, it would also help implement new civic projects in a planned manner
under the National Urban Renewal Mission.
Principal Secretary (Urban Development) K Kailashnathan said the new
nagarpalikas don't have adequate funds and technical staff to create the
necessary infrastructure in their respective areas. "Now that they will be
merged, residents will witness planned and uniformed development, though
they should be prepared now to pay taxes being levied by these civic
bodies," he said.
Eleven other municipalities have been merged: Bakrol with Anand, Jalalpor
with Navsari, Bokhira with Porbandar, Adityana with Ranavav, Mogravadi and
Abrama with Valsad, Dungra and Chala with Vapi, and Nagalpur with Mehsana
municipality.
Also, a new municipality — Okha — has been formed by merging Surajkaradi,
Okha and Arambhda municipalities.
Sources in the State Government said that the notification had come into
force with immediate effect, but its implementation would take time. They
said it all depended on how fast the corporations completed legal
formalities like passing a resolution for inclusion of new areas, planning
and location of new checkposts, rules for tax collection, and these from the
State Government.
A decision, they said had been taken in principle to include all the local
bodies into AMC, that are located within the 60-metre ring road. At present,
it was not possible to have exact calculation of post-merger municipal areas
of Ahmedabad because certain localities were not included as their elected
bodies were yet to be consulted.
==========================================================
*Azam talks politics at NURM meeting*
HT Correspondent
Lucknow, February 14
WITH THE deadline for submitting projects to be funded under National Urban
Renewal Mission (NURM) just a month away, the Regional Centre for Urban and
Environmental Studies here organised a workshop for district magistrates,
mayors and executive officers to encourage them to avail its benefits for
their respective cities.
Though the topic for discussion was Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme
for Small and Medium Towns (UIDSSMT) Urban Development Minister Mohd Azam
Khan utilised the occasion in taking pot shots both at his predecessor in
the ministry during the BJP regime and at the Central Government.
Criticising the pro-urban tilt of the schemes under NURM, the minister said
not only the selection of cities under the scheme was biased but its
implementation would also promote migration from villages towards cities.
"The inclusion of Mathura in the seven cities selected by the Centre under
the scheme and dropping Faizbad, which I had suggested because of Ayodhya,
is a case in point as a legislator of the city is close to 10 Janpath," he
said. Without taking the name of former Housing and Urban Development
Minister Lalji Tandon, he said large-scale misappropriation of funds
earmarked for the development of State capital was done during the BJP
regime. "A major example of this wanton misuse of funds was the multi-crore
Gomti river dredging project," he said, adding that he had demanded a
high-level probe over the end utilisation of money spent on all development
projects in the city, which was then the prime minister's constituency.
Stressing on the need for a balanced development of both rural urban areas,
the minister said basic services and needs like housing, medical and
educational facilities should be provided free of cost to the poor.
Director State Urban Development Agency Diwakar Tripathi made a detailed
presentation on how the government could best utilise huge tracts of unused
land for taking care of the housing needs of the underprivileged sections of
the society through the Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme
(IHSDP).