Union Minister for
Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation, Shri. Ananth Kumar
has emphasized the need to develop Corridors of Commerce and
Industry, at least one in each state linked with the Urban
Transport system so that economic development can take place at
a faster pace. He was addressing the delegates at the Annual Congress
of the Institute of Urban Transport(India) in the capital today.
He said that a medium
term plan for the development of Urban Transport is needed so
that in the next 5 years the country can have another 5 metro
rail systems and Corridors of Commerce & Industry linking
Kanpur-Lucknow; Bangalore-Mysore & Trivandrum – Cochin. Shri
Kumar also said that a city should have more rail-based transport
and only adequate road based transport as rail based transport
is affordable and pollution free as it is power based. He also
said that discussions are on with the Governments of Karnataka,
Andhra Pradesh and Kerala to establish metro rail system in the
cities of Trivandrum, Cochin, Bangalore and Hyderabad by 2004.
Referring to the
draft National Urban Transport policy, Shri Ananth Kumar said
that the draft policy is ready and has been circulated for comments
to various sections of the society and the final policy will be
ready before June 2003. He said that efforts are being made to
encourage State Governments to come out with metro rail projects
involving 13% each equity by the State and Central Government
with the rest coming from financial institutions.
Speaking on the occasion,
Secretary, Department of Urban Development, Sh. N.N.Khanna who
is also the Chairman of the Institute of Urban Transport said
that the current status of Urban Transport is not sufficient and
it needs to be improved in a big way so that fuel can be conserved,
pollution can be reduced and efficiency and growth can be stimulated.
He also said that the local bodies should take the responsibility
of providing good Urban Transport as neither the State nor the
Central Government can shoulder this responsibility. He assured
all possible technical and financial support to the local bodies.
Among others who
were present on the occasion were the Officer on Special Duty
in the Ministry of Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation,
Sh. Chattopadhyay who is also the Chairman of the Task Force on
Urban Transport and senior officials of the ministry of Urban
Development. It may be noted that the Institute of Urban Transport
is a professional organization established in 1997 to promote,
encourage and co-ordinate the state of art of Urban Transport.
It brings out Urban Transport Journal periodically and has established
the National Urban Transport Information Center to compile data
on Urban Transport.
