INABILITY of the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) to introduce necessary reforms could impede further disbursement of grant installments under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).
Mission Directorate, Ministry of Urban Development Deputy Secretary N Venugopalan said this during his visit to the Capital on Monday to take stock of the preparations under the JNNURM. Venugopalan will also visit Indore and Ujjain during the next couple of days.
When told that BMC had refused to increase water tax on two occasions during the past one year, he said, “The next installment of the JNNURM funds will be disbursed only after utilisation certificate of allocated funds are produced and reforms stipulated in the MoU are completed.”
Venugopalan said the implementation of necessary reforms in a phased manner will be reviewed before the next disbursement of funds. He said that it was up to local bodies or State Government how they dealt with issues like tax hike.
Earlier, Venugopalan along with Kaustubh Basu and HB Singh of JNNURM Technical Cell toured City areas to review work sanctioned under JNNURM. The team took stock of the computerisation of BMC accounting and double entry data system in zone number-9 and expressed their satisfaction with the work.
The team inspected nullah widening at Sarita Complex, 6 No Bus Stop, Mansarovar Complex, Patra Nullah at Karariya and Semara village. A project of Rs 30.57 crore is sanctioned under the JNNURM for the channelisation of nullah.
The team also visited two sites selected for providing basic services to urban poor at Shyam Nagar and Sabri Nagar. BMC has taken up a Rs 17-crore project for the construction of 1,440 houses for urban poor at Shyam Nagar under JNNURM.
The team inspected nullah widening at Sarita Complex, 6 No Bus Stop, Mansarovar Complex, Patra Nullah at Karariya and Semara village. A project of Rs 30.57 crore is sanctioned under the JNNURM for the channelisation of nullah.
The team also visited two sites selected for providing basic services to urban poor at Shyam Nagar and Sabri Nagar. BMC has taken up a Rs 17-crore project for the construction of 1,440 houses for urban poor at Shyam Nagar under JNNURM.
A Rs 7 crore project has been sanctioned for construction of 512 houses at Sabri Nagar. So far, projects worth Rs 140 crore have been sanctioned under the JNNURM in Bhopal.
Bhopal Municipal Corporation officials including Arvind Dubey, Abhay Bedekar and Ashok Khare accompanied the team.