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- By Parinda News Bureau, March 20, 2006, 12:33 IST
Mumbai: Milind Deora, the young MP from South, on Sunday called for the need to liberalize the Rent Control Act gradually to benefit cities in the long run.
Speaking at a session on 'Emerging megacities: case studies on urban renewal and development' as part of the 16th Asian Corporate Conference, Deora, the youngest parliamentarian in the 14th Lok Sabha, said the Urban Renewal Mission of the Centre clearly specifies on such reforms to be carried out by the respective states before allocation of funds.
He said the focus should not be on Mumbai and Delhi alone, but on semi-urban centres across the country.
The Mission to be implemented over a period of seven years will try to achieve this goal and will cover 23 cities across India, he said. Speaking on the politics of development, Deora said despite growing urbanization, 70 per cent of the country is still rural.
"This is the reason we have pro-rural governments where urban decay and haphazard planning is neglected. India is dominated by rural politics. There is a lack of political will. We need to rework the models and improve urban development."
He also pointed out that land is a State subject and the Centre can do little in terms of Urban Planning. He said the Urban Renewal Mission, which seeks land reforms from state governments, is like a carrot and stick approach. "A carrot minus the stick does not work here.'' Striking an optimistic note, Deora said the Mission signifies that there is emerging consensus among stakeholders envisaging all-round development for cities.
Dwelling on the issue of slum proliferation, especially in Mumbai, Deora said hutment dwellers are an integral part this metro's economy. "In a democracy, all politics is vote bank politics."
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