STATES URGED TO SPEED UP AMENDMENT OF
THEIR MUNICIPAL LAWS
CENTRE MAY LINK
DISBURSAL OF FUNDS OF VARIOUS SCHEMES WITH IMPLEMENTATION OF URBAN
REFORMS BY STATES
A National Workshop on Model
Municipal Law began here today to review the progress made by
various state governments in the implementation of various recommendations
of this model law. In his keynote address Secretary, Department
of Urban Development Shri N.N. Khanna urged the state governments
to have a close look at the working of the Urban Local Bodies
and bring in the needed amendment in their Municipal Laws to give
more autonomy to these bodies as envisaged in the 74th
Constitution Amendment Act. He said that though this Constitution
Act has completed a decade and urban local bodies have been delegated
more responsibilities and functions, they have not been supplemented
with adequate financial resources. "As a result, Urban Local
Bodies are not able to perform their assigned functions in an
efficient and effective manner and depend heavily on grants from
higher levels of government," he added.
Shri Khanna said that
the Model Municipal Law developed by the Ministry of Urban Development
and Poverty Alleviation would assist local bodies in areas of
accounting reforms, resource mobilization, levy of user charges
and entry of private sector in service delivery. He expressed
hope that the Model Municipal Law would help in enhancing the
capacity of Urban Local Bodies to leverage public funds for development
of urban sector and also in creating environment in which Urban
Local Bodies can play their role more effectively and ensure better
service delivery.
Shri Khanna said that
the existing scheme of things cannot continue any longer and if
we aggressively do not turn around the situation, quality of life
in urban areas will deteriorate. He hinted that the government
is contemplating to link disbursal of funds of central schemes
like Accelerated Urban Water Supply Scheme, Integrated Development
of Medium and Small Towns, etc., with the state governments initiatives
in implementing urban reform agenda.
This one day workshop
is being jointly organized by M/o Urban Development and Poverty
Alleviation, National Institutes of Urban Affairs, Financial Institutions
Reform and Expansion Project and USAID. Among others who spoke
on the occasion were the Joint Secretary, Shri Rajamani , Mission
Director of USAID, Mr. Walter North.
