Chandigarh, February 4: Punjab aims to declare the state open-defecation free by October, but only 37% — 61 urban local bodies out of 164 — have achieved it so far, said Union minister of state for housing and urban affairs Hardeep Singh Puri here on Saturday.
In the city to review the progress of urban development missions of the central government in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh, Puri — who accompanied by Punjab local bodies minister Navjot Singh Sidhu and his Haryana counterpart Kavita Jain — said Punjab has achieved 100% door-to-door collection of garbage target in 2,003 of the 3,043 wards. However, it is processing only 15% of the waste generated, said Puri.
Briefing on the smart cities mission, Puri said three cities in Punjab — Amritsar, Jalandhar and Ludhiana — have been selected for the project and the detailed project reports (DPR) were under preparation. Thus, 11 projects worth Rs 3,385 crore in Amritsar, 19 projects worth ₹1,899 crore in Jalandhar and 19 projects worth Rs 1,898 crore were at the DPR stage. Phase 1 of the integrated command and control centre had been completed in Ludhaina, he added.
The minister also asked Punjab to improve solid waste processing in Amritsar, which has been declared as a heritage city. He said projects for improvement of Amritsar’s Rambagh Garden, facelift of Gol Bagh, upgrade of Maharaja Ranjit Singh Panorama were underway.
Puri said a demand for 3.5 lakh houses in 163 towns of Punjab under the Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojana (PMAY) had been indicated of which 329 projects have been sanctioned for construction of 42,497 houses. Only 11,105 houses (26%) of these have been grounded of which only 392 have been completed.
On the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Antyodaya Yojana — National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM), Puri said Punjab achieved only 20% of the target for training of candidates in the current year. Only 6% of these trained persons could be suitably placed, he added.
Lauding Haryana for achieving 100% door-to-door collection in 966 wards out of its 1,475 wards and becoming an open-defaction free (ODF) state. Puri, however, said the state is processing only 3% of the waste generated. He said that under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), Haryana has already provided 80,000 new tap connections against a target of 2.74 lakh by the end of mission period.
On smart cities mission (SCM) front, Puri said that two smart cities namely Karnal and Faridabad had been selected and in both cities, 60 projects worth Rs 2,342 crore had been approved and are at the detailed project reports or tendering stage. These included rejuvenation of Badhkal lake and Barahi Talab in Faridabad, he said.
On the issue of Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojana (PMAY), he said Haryana had placed a demand for about 3.5 lakh houses in the 80 statutory towns. While 85 projects have been sanctioned for construction of 24,980 houses, work for only 720 houses (1%) of these have been started. Haryana has thus been asked to fast track proposals for at least 60,000 houses to saturate 50% of its demand by 2017-18, he said and added that no proposals have been received under in-situ slum rehabilitation (ISSR) component despite huge potential from 3.3 lakh slum households (Census 2011).
On Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM) Puri said that though Haryana had achieved 64% of the target for training of candidates in the current year, only 8% of these trained persons could be suitably placed, hence need to strive to impart training in consultation with business and industry to ensure full placement.
