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"Delhi Government did not follow guidelines for loans"

Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

Application for financial aid under Nehru Urban Renewal Mission

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Government has in its budget document stated that it has decided to avail itself of financial support under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission for construction of thousands of houses in the city. But according to the Centre for Civil Society, the City Development Plan, which is a must along with a Detailed Project Report and a Memorandum of Agreement for applying for funds, has not been prepared as per the guidelines.

At a time when the Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation, the Delhi Development Authority and the Slum Wing of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi have prepared detailed project reports for over 26,000 flats to be constructed at various sites, Makarand Bakore of the Centre for Civil Society (CCS) has charged that Delhi's future development projects could suffer because the rules have not been adhered to in totality.

"JNNURM is an initiative of the Central Government in which it will fund 63 cities towards urban development. In return, the cities will have to carry out urban reforms at the State and local levels. The total allocation for the mission is Rs. 50,000 crore and it is to be spent in seven years by the Central Government. An equal amount will be spent in this period by the State Governments and the urban local bodies,'' he said.

According to Mr. Bakore, the guidelines mandate that key stakeholders and civil society organisations be consulted in making the City Development Plan (CDP) and it should reflect the shared and collective vision of the citizens of the city. However, in the case of Delhi CDP, he said, it was prepared by IL & FS Ecosmart for a fee of Rs. 18 lakh.

Consultation

Moreover, as per information obtained by CCS through an RTI application, before the CDP was drafted, the Delhi Government had only one consultation with civil society organisations on their views of the city.

IL & FS Ecosmart made the CDP and submitted it to the Government.

"Without showing the CDP to any citizen or civil society organisation, the Delhi Government submitted it to the Centre for approval. It is also puzzling that the CDP was commissioned by the Delhi Government and there was no involvement of the main urban local body for Delhi, namely, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, in the consultations or preparation of the CDP," Mr. Bakore charged.

"According to the vision of JNNURM, it is the urban local body representing the people of the city that is supposed to prepare the CDP. What is worse, the Delhi Government has refused to make the CDP public,'' he said, adding that while the Capital city has ignored the norms other cities such as Vadodara, Hyderabad, Surat and Vijaywada have constituted groups and held discussions with the stakeholders before its preparation.

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