|
Lok Sabha
Various initiatives have been taken by the Ministry of Urban Development to build capacity of various functionaries of urban local bodies which include the following:-
Assistance is provided to States for training of women elected Councilors to the extent of 50 percent of the total cost of training, subject to a maximum limit of Rs. 1500 per woman councilor per programme. Funds provided to various States during the last three years and the current year for training of women councilors is as follows:
2002-03
Kerala - Rs. 1.50 lakh
Uttaranchal - Rs. 4.77 lakh
Madhya Pradesh - Rs. 17.32 lakh
Maharashtra - Rs. 18.00 lakh
2003-04
Karnataka - Rs. 14.42 lakh
Tripura - Rs. 1.62 lakh
Chhattisgarh - Rs. 4.73 lakh
West Bengal - Rs. 13.41 lakh
Haryana - Rs. 4.30 lakh
Goa - Rs. 1.33 lakh
Delhi - Rs. 1.22 lakh
Assam - Rs. 2.44 lakh
Punjab &
Chandigarh - Rs. 6.92 lakh
2004-05
Gujarat - Rs. 11.71 lakh
Himachal Pradesh - Rs. 1.54 lakh
Rajasthan - Rs. 9.64 lakh
Karnataka - Rs. 14.42 lakh
Chhattisgarh - Rs. 4.74 lakh
Tamil Nadu - Rs. 24.62 lakh
2005-06 : No fund has been released to States so far.
Grants for conducting training courses under Public Health Engineering (PHE) Training Programmes of the Ministry are released to Academic Institutions under the field departments for conducting various courses for increasing the technical and management skill of in-service engineers of State Water Supply & Sanitation Departments. The grants for these programmes are not released to State Governments.
The Ministry has also set up Regional Centres for Urban & Environmental Studies at Hyderabad, Lucknow and Mumbai and Centre for Urban Studies in IIPA, New Delhi for conducting various programmes for official and elected functionaries of ULBs. During the last three years, the Ministry has provided following grants to these institutions to meet their administrative and establishment expenditure:
2002-03 : Rs. 195.50 lakh
2003-04 : Rs. 234.67 lakh
2004-05 : Rs. 247.95 lakh
2005-06 : Rs. 37.30 lakh (till 12.8.2005)
(iv) The National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), which is an autonomous institution under the Ministry of Urban Development has been identified by the Government of India as a nodal agency for overall coordination of Indo-USAID Financial Institutions Reform and Expansion (FIRE) – (D) Project. One of the major responsibilities handled by the Institute under the above programme relates to capacity building and training activities. NIUA, in order to discharge its responsibilities relating to training, has developed a country-wide network of training institutes which consists of 15 training institutes. NIUA provides strategic support to the network training institutions for conducting capacity building workshops and conducting research. The training workshops provided under the above programme are tailored to develop competence amongst the municipal functionaries, both appointed and elected, by enhancing their knowledge and skill in various sphere of urban development. No funds are released to the State Governments under the above programme for training purposes.
(v) As per the existing guidelines for Integrated Development of Small & Medium Towns (IDSMT) scheme, the government has been taking efforts to train and upgrade the skills of personnel dealing with the preparation of project reports and implementation of IDSMT scheme. Accordingly, Town & Country Planning Organisation (TCPO), which is a subordinate office of the Ministry of Urban Development conducts short term orientation workshops/courses for various functionaries of ULBs. However, no funds are provided to the State Governments for organising training programmes under IDSMT Scheme.
(vi) Under the proposed National Urban Information System (NUIS), which has been approved by the Government for implementation, it is proposed to provide training to the personnel of States and local bodies to generate inputs, maintain and operate NUIS and database for urban planning and management. This scheme envisages development of Geographical Information System (GIS) database for urban planning.
The Ministry has undertaken initiative for Municipal Accounting Reforms to enable ULBs to maintain their accounts on Double Entry Accounting System. For this purpose, the Ministry have also prepared and circulated the National Municipal Accounts Manual to all States. It is now envisaged to provide training to the accounting personnel of ULBs to help them implement the double entry accounting system. For this purpose, the assistance of Office of the Comptroller & Auditor General of India (C&AG) is being availed of. The Twelfth Finance Commission has devolved Rs. 5000 crore upon municipalities for operation and maintenance of core municipal services and solid waste management. The Ministry has suggested the Ministry of Finance, who is administratively concerned with the release of above grants to the State Governments to earmark Rs. 250 crore for implementation of accounting reforms including training of personnel.
The Ministry is in the process of formulating a Mission Mode Project on E-Governance for municipalities. Under this project, training programmes will be conducted for the functionaries of municipalities to enable them to deliver municipal services by using various tools of information technology.
The proposed National Urban Renewal Mission (NURM) and Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small & Medium Towns (UIDSSMT) also envisage training for urban development as one of its components.
This information was given by Minister for Urban Development and Parliamentary Affairs, Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad in his written reply to a question of Shri Adhalrao Patil Shivajirao and Shri Ganesh Singh in the Lok Sabha, today.
HRK/SK
|
