[sustran] Bangalore Gets JNNURM Kick

[Sujit Patwardhan]

23 January 2008


About time this was done. JNNURM funds are not meant for projects meant
mainly for personal auto vehicles. Are the authorities and politicians in
Pune aware of this? Or do they need to be reminded by similar cancellation
of funds for proposed flyovers in the city that are being pushed for by our
political parties and the administration?
--
Sujit


http://www.downtoearth.org.in/full6.asp?foldername=20080131&filename=news&sec_id=4&sid=30




End of the road for Bangalore?

*Bangalore Gets JNNURM Kick*

RAVLEEN KAUR


*Officials in the Union Ministry of Urban Development say the ministry has
decided not to clear any more road and transport projects under JNNURM
unless cities submitted a comprehensive mobility plan. "There is no blanket
ban but we have asked cities to submit a mobility plan. We did return some
projects because cities did not have it," says S K Lohia, director in the
ministry. The centre formulated a National Urban Transport Policy in April
2006, which stressed that projects should be designed keeping in mind "the
mobility of people rather than vehicles and should accordingly give priority
to pedestrians, public transport and integrate land use and transport
planning".*





Bangalore Municipal Corporation's road projects have hit a dead end due to
non-availability of funds. The corporation had applied for Rs 7,536 crore
for flyovers and grade-separator projects under the Jawaharlal Nehru
National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).



"Our city development plan had many road projects because the public
expressed the need for them. We haven't received the second instalment for a
lot of projects and Rs 105 crore for developing 170 km of arterial and
sub-arterial roads have still not been released.



We haven't even got an official response," says J Manjunath of the Bruhat
Bangalore Mahanagar Palike.



Officials in the Union Ministry of Urban Development say the ministry has
decided not to clear any more road and transport projects under JNNURM
unless cities submitted a comprehensive mobility plan. "There is no blanket
ban but we have asked cities to submit a mobility plan. We did return some
projects because cities did not have it," says S K Lohia, director in the
ministry. The centre formulated a National Urban Transport Policy in April
2006, which stressed that projects should be designed keeping in mind "the
mobility of people rather than vehicles and should accordingly give priority
to pedestrians, public transport and integrate land use and transport
planning".



O P Mathur of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, New
Delhi, says the government was focusing more on transport than roads.
"Initially, they cleared a lot of projects but suddenly realized that a lot
of money is going into flyovers. But this was not abrupt. They have given
money for improving roads where cities have given convincing data for the
need," he said. "We need to remember that the focus of jnnurm is reforms and
not just infrastructure. If Bangalore corporation has not been issued finds,
it may be because they have not been able to carry out certain reforms," he
added.



The move has been criticized because of the centre's delayed response. "The
government should have made it clear that no flyovers and road projects will
be sanctioned unless cities kept in mind decongestion, peddlers and bullock
carts. They cleared projects because they were in a hurry to allot funds,"
says Vinay Baindur of Collaborative for Advancement of Studies in Urbanism
through Mix-Media.


-- 
------------------------------------------------------
Sujit Patwardhan
sujit at vsnl.com
sujitjp at gmail.com

"Yamuna",
ICS Colony,
Ganeshkhind Road,
Pune 411 007
India
Tel: 25537955
-----------------------------------------------------
Hon. Secretary:
Parisar
www.parisar.org
------------------------------------------------------
Founder Member:
PTTF
(Pune Traffic & Transportation Forum)
www.pttf.net
------------------------------------------------------



-- 
------------------------------------------------------
Sujit Patwardhan
sujit at vsnl.com
sujitjp at gmail.com

"Yamuna",
ICS Colony,
Ganeshkhind Road,
Pune 411 007
India
Tel: 25537955
-----------------------------------------------------
Hon. Secretary:
Parisar
www.parisar.org
------------------------------------------------------
Founder Member:
PTTF
(Pune Traffic & Transportation Forum)
www.pttf.net
------------------------------------------------------