Urban development expenditure is up 13 times in the last 10 years; Now preparations to increase the responsibility of the states

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs is planning to take forward the existing programs rather than bringing any new plan for urban development. The Smart City Mission started in 2016 to develop 100 cities and will end in March next year and no similar program will be started in its place. Furthermore, there is also no movement on the plan to establish eight new cities, on which eight thousand crore rupees were to be spent.

For now, the ministry said that it is implementing PM Awas Yojana, PM Swanidhi, Deendayal Upadhyaya Urban Livelihood Mission, and Amrit Mission-2 to improve the infrastructure of cities. The Commission has also waited for the recommendations of the 16th Finance Commission to come out. Only after this, the direction of urban development will be decided.

The role and responsibility of the states in urban development may be increased, particularly their role in planning is likely to go up further. According to an official of the ministry, no new scheme is needed right now. The allocation and expenditure made for urban development in the last ten years is unprecedented. The expenditure made on urban development between 2014 and 2024 is 13 times as compared to 2004-2014. In future times, this trend is going to persist.

The official said that we have almost prepared the proposal to be given to the Finance Commission. For this, several sub-groups were formed, which have given many suggestions to improve the financial condition of the cities as well as expressed the need for administrative reforms. Now we will do whatever recommendations we get from the Finance Commission for allocation of money to the states.

It should be mentioned here that the 15th Finance Commission had advocated reforms and accordingly the states are being given incentives. "Schemes should focus on big cities along with their surroundings, the planned development of which is considered most important. Consultations are going on with the states regarding this. States can be given many types of incentives for this," said the official.

Government feels that this would serve two purposes. First, it would accelerate the pace of development in towns, and secondly, it would reduce population pressure on cities, which presently are victims of chaos. A similar kind of recommendation may come from the 16th Finance Commission. This Commission was constituted in 2023 under the chairmanship of Arvind Panagariya. Chances are it will submit its report by next May-June.