New Delhi: The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs is in a mood to take forward the existing programmes instead of bringing any new plan for urban development. The Smart City Mission launched in 2016 to develop 100 cities will end in March next year and no similar programme will be started in its place. There is no movement on the plan to develop eight new cities, on which Rs 8000 crore was to be spent.

At present, the ministry is focusing on the implementation of PM Awas Yojana, PM Swanidhi, Deendayal Upadhyaya Urban Livelihood Mission, Amrit Mission-2 to improve the infrastructure of cities and is waiting for the recommendations of the 16th Finance Commission to come out. Only after this will the direction of urban development be decided.

Expenditure on urban development increased 13 times

It is possible that the responsibility of the states in urban development may be increased, especially their role in planning may increase. 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. Compared to 2004-2014, the expenditure made on urban development between 2014 and 2024 is 13 times. This trend will continue in the future as well.

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 gave several suggestions to improve the financial condition of the cities and also expressed the need for administrative reforms. Now we will do as per the recommendations received from the Finance Commission for allocation of funds to the states.

The 15th Finance Commission had advocated reforms

It is worth noting that the 15th Finance Commission had advocated reforms and accordingly the states are being given incentives. The official said that there is a need to focus schemes on big cities and the areas around them. Planned development of these areas is considered most important. Consultations are going on with the states regarding this. States can be given many types of incentives for this.

The government believes that many benefits can be achieved from this. One, the pace of urban development will be accelerated and secondly, it will help in reducing the population pressure on cities, which are currently victims of chaos. It is possible that a similar recommendation may be made by the 16th Finance Commission. This commission was constituted in 2023 under the chairmanship of Arvind Panagariya. It is likely to submit its report by next May-June.