Tuesday, April 24, 2012


World Bank Study on Urban Local Bodies 

The World Bank in its Study ‘Synthesis Study of Public Financial Management and Accountability (PFMA) in Urban Local Bodies (ULBs)’ of March 2007 has mentioned that most ULBs and State Legislations in the country need to be more people centric and need to evolve to focus on compliance, and that issues relating staffing pattern and standardisation in most ULBs is required to be addressed adequately. The Government of India is already seized of the matter and is addressing these issues through various initiatives and schemes like the JNNURM, Capacity Building Scheme for Urban Local Bodies, Service Level Benchmarks for the Water & Sanitation Section& E-governance, National Urban Sanitation Policy etc. Community participation is one of the critical components of the JnNURM.

 The Government had constituted a High Powered Expert committee (HPEC) under the Chairmanship of Dr. Isher Judge Ahluwalia for estimating investment requirements for Urban Infrastructure Services for 20 years period. It has also stressed on capacity building of the urban local bodies. A Committee under the Chairmanship of Shri Arun Maira, Member, Planning Commission has been constituted on September 15, 2011 to recommend the structure of next phase of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM). The matter with respect to establishment of a municipal cadre at State level and taking up capacity building initiatives by States has been stressed upon by Government from time to time. Final decision on the strategy and initiatives for the next phase of JnNURM has not been taken. 

 This information was given by the Minister of State for Urban Development Shri Saugata Roy in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

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