Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao today held extensive discussions with Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu on the new initiatives of the central government in urban sector and possible areas of assistance to the state.
Naidu assured the Chief Minister of maximum possible assistance to the state under various schemes, which he said, would be launched soon.
Both the leaders discussed broad contours of central government's initiatives like building Smart Cities, developing basic infrastructure in 500 identified cities, Housing for All, Development of Cities of Cultural Heritage, etc.
Rao has expressed keen interest in augmenting transport and other infrastructure in cities and towns of Telangana, water supply and sanitation and developing some of the existing cities as smart cities.
Naidu gave a detailed account of various schemes to be launched and said that it was for the state government to prioritise project proposals after assessing the infrastructure status in different cities and towns.
He told Rao that the central government firmly believed in collaborative effort between the Centre and states to address challenges of growing urbanisation.
Naidu and Rao expressed concern over the state of affairs with respect to urban governance in the country and the need to transform urban governance through necessary reforms to make urban local bodies rise to the challenges of rapid urbanisation and convert the same into opportunities.
Naidu said the cities and towns of Telangana performed better than others under JNNURM.
Naidu explained to the Chief Minister that further to the experience of implementation of Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewable Mission (JNNURM) which fell short of targets, the central government is keen about selecting cities and towns for inclusion under Smart Cities project based on the reforms so far implemented and the ability of urban local bodies to mobilise resources and take forward required reforms.
Regarding release of funds for Rs 1,600-crore water supply schemes, Naidu clarified that the previous UPA government has wound up JNNURM on March 31, 2014 and did not release any fund for these schemes.
