Urban renewal of over-populated mega cities has become the first casualty of the generous loan waiver scheme of the UPA government. Projects dealing with water supply in Uttar Pradesh’s towns and cities (worth Rs 4,000 crore), sewage disposal in Mumbai, the Yamuna action plan in New Delhi — apart from those involving the upgrading of urban infrastructure and its administration in 63 cities across the country — will now only be taken up by the new government at the Centre. This according to the finance ministry’s instructions to state governments on funding for the first urban renewal programme in India, which is expected to cost Rs 60,000 crore. Electoral arithmetic made the government decide that focusing on farmers was more useful than the urban poor — who would have been among the first beneficiaries of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). The flagship programme has a separate dedicated mission to provide basic services to the urban poor and improve the lot of slum-dwellers via integrated housing development projects. The finance ministry has cited a paucity of funds to turn down states’ demand for about Rs 3 lakh crore to finance several projects under the JNNURM. The ministry has informed the states cannot make available the funds as it has to provide resources for the debt waiver and relief scheme for farmers, now estimated to cost the exchequer Rs 71,680 crore.While expressing its inability to meet the states’ demands, the ministry has stressed that it needs to provide funds for other social sector programmes . According to senior government officials, the finance ministry is opposed to any kind of increase in funds for projects under JNNURM. This stand gains significance in the backdrop of urban development minister S Jaipal Reddy recently announcing that the Centre would try to mobilise more funds to undertake various developmental works under JNNURM.
