The Hindu Business Line : Kalam calls for integrated development of urban, rural areas

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Ahmedabad Feb. 15 Emphasising an integrated approach to the development of urban and rural areas of the country and connecting them in all spheres of life, the President, Mr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, on Thursday asked the planners and the State Governments to focus on inclusive development and creating job opportunities around towns and cities to check inflow of villagers into the cities.

PURA

The country would need to construct 100-120 million houses in the next 15 years. This task would call for a planned development of both towns and villages. The planners should develop clusters of villages adjoining cities, he said, while referring to the programme of providing urban amenities in rural areas (PURA).

He also stressed for optimum use of water and energy resources. "India has 17 per cent of the world's total population but only 0.5 per cent of gas and iron resources. In the next 75 years or so, our coal and gas would also be almost exhausted."

2-day summit

Inaugurating a two-day "Vibrant Gujarat Urban Summit 2007" here, organised by the state-owned Gujarat Urban Development Company Ltd to attract investments in the urban infrastructure sector, he lauded the State Government for including 168 towns and cities in its urban development mission through a public-private partnership (PPP). He also lauded the speedy recovery of Surat and Kutch districts of Gujarat after natural disasters in the recent past. However, he said the development of rural areas by making available urban amenities there was equally important. "Our rural way of life, culture and environment should be protected," he said while referring to the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNRUM) and its achievements.

Connectivity

Stating that connectivity is synonymous with growth, Mr Kalam urged the planners to focus on providing electronic, physical, economic and knowledge connectivity to the urban and rural areas for creating synergy between them.

Instead of working individually, the Government, the planners and the private sector should work in unison for better results. While praising efforts of the State Government to improve quality of life, he said, "Ninety per cent of our Government Web sites are not updated regularly," and asked the departments to update them cconstantly.

Planned development

Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, said unless India urgently focussed on providing quality life to both urban and rural areas, the current achievements of economy could not be sustained.

In May 2006, half the world population lived in the urban areas while in Gujarat 40 per cent people lived in towns and cities. He said while JNURM has selected 63 cities, Gujarat has expanded its focus to 168 urban areas for integrated development.

He urged the Centre to develop the birthplaces of Mahatma Gandhi (Porbandar) and Sardar Patel (Karamsad) and Gandhinagar for long-term planned development and provide assistance to the State's efforts to meet the situations arising out of natural disasters.

The Union Urban Development Secretary, Mr M. Ramachandran, while praising the event as the "largest-ever urban development initiative anywhere in India", said the Centre has sanctioned Rs 10,000 crore under JNURM.

Referring to the municipal bonds worth Rs 400 crore floated by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, he called for increased municipal bonds for self-funding of urban projects.

While such bonds in India were in infancy, these were worth $3 trillion in the US, he added. The Gujarat Governor, Mr Naval Kishore Sharma, and the Assembly Speaker, Mr Mangaldas Patel, were also present.

More Stories on : Employment | Urban Development | Rural Development | Gujarat

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