Thank You for
the opportunity given to me to share my inputs for the INC Manifesto 2019 on
Urban Infra & Mobility.
Urbanization
is a reality and more and more population are moving towards Urban areas, and
more and more villages are becoming towns and towns are becoming cities. Even
though Indian % of Urbanization is lesser than the global % the sheer
population density poses a greater challenge than any other country.
Urban Infra is
about Roads, Transport, Water, Power, Sewage Disposal, Garbage, Education,
Health, Industry, Sports, Employment, Urban Poor, Safety, Parking, Housing,
Lakes, Environment (Air, Water, Soil Pollution) all of it!
Hence Urban
areas need high focus on each of the aspects due to sheer population density.
Firstly,
JnNRUM has to be brought back with much focus on each of the Urban infra issue
and funds have to be allocated to every Urban project.
Similar to MSW
Policy, there has to be a policy on taking Sewage in UGDs and treatment to
reuse, even in smaller towns and cities.
Urban poor
haven been excluded in the Urban policy making, 32% of the Urban poor who are
largely migrants and floating population need livelihood safety net. Even
though UPA brought in the Street Vendor Bill 2014, Street Vendors even in 2018
have not been given ID cards nor Vending Zones are created to enable them to do
business with dignity and without harassment. Street Vending globally is
considered and encourage as an eco-friendly model as they do not consume power
not the volume of waste generated is large, and their business is limited hours
too, hence our Urban infra has to be inclusive to accommodate globally accepted
model.
Cities like
Bengaluru will soon run out of water unless we start accepting the fact that
Lakes are indeed RWH zones. The spread of the rainfall is the concern but the
quantity of rainfall has not a threat if Urban areas are able to store water
and also recharge ground water tables. Since there is a need to a Central and
State Water Policy, Urban Lakes should also be considered under this policy
even though the objective of Lakes/Tanks are different from Rural and Urban
areas. Key step like taking the Sewage in UGDs itself is enough to revive City
Lakes with less funding interventions.
MSW is a
monster of an issue, not only Cities even Towns and Village are slowing been
consumed by the Garbage crisis, when Singapore that has the highest Air
pollution standards can have Waste to Energy Plants why not India? It’s well
known that only less than 20% of waste is recycled globally and good to hear
words like 100% segregation is not even close to reality globally, hence
letting Villages, Towns, Cities suffer is a crime. More emphasis and funds have
to be allocated towards Technology interventions for Garbage Treatment.
Empower ULBs,
even after the 74th amendment the ULBs are suffering in from direct
intervention of the MLAs and State Govt. Since ULBs are not made
self-sustainable the dependency on State is making the ULB Administration
weaker, hence I propose the revamped JnNURM to directly fund the ULBs and
enable them to raise funds via Infra Bonds and Green Bonds. Also, there is a
need to share the Road Tax that the State Govt collects with the ULBs, today
with over 12lac vehicles on Road in Bengaluru, one can ask how much Road Tax is
given to BBMP from the Transport Dept.
Incentives
& Tax Holiday for State Govt for creating Satellite will encourage the State
Govt to decongest-congest cities like Bengaluru.
