Despite
the 74th Constitutional Amendment made effective
since early 1994, the status of Municipalities
in the country remains in complete disarray
and neglect. International donors and corporate
sector has interest in the efficient management
of metros and large cities; but there is no
champion for the nearly four thousand small
and medium towns in India. There has been no
systematic devolution of functions, funds or
functionaries to these urban governance institutions.
In fact, there is no national mechanism to monitor
or push for effective devolution as per constitutional
mandate.
It is
in this mileu that PRIA's interventions in reforming
urban governance in small and medium towns need
to be situated. After five years of hands-on
effort in nearly fifty Municipalities in 12
states of the country, it became obvious to
us that major systemic interventions are needed
in moving towards municipallities as institutions
of local self governance. It is in this context
that an innovative pilot intervention in Participatory
Town Planning was conducted during the year.
Methodology
Given
the positive climate for urban governance in
the states of Chhattisgarh, two towns Rajnandgaon
and Janjgir were selected for this pilot exercise.
The town Planning is typically undertaken by
Town and Country Planning Office of the State
Government, without much consultation with any
other stake-holders. The pilot intervention
attempted to bring a variety of stake-holders
from the towns into a visioning cum-planning
exercise spread over several months. Key stakeholders
involved in the process were selected councillors,
Municipal officials, community groups, business
associations, etc. In the process, it was discovered
that most such towns do not even have basic
maps. Using satellite imagery, digital maps
of the towns were prepared. City-wide visioning
exercise identified priorities related to transport,
sanitation and water supply. In the process,
stake holders became aware of planning methodology
and need for prioritising investments and projects.
As
the process moved, it became obvious that many
departments of the state Government had ambiguous
and overlapping responsibilities for different
aspects of town development; these had to be
negotiated. The priorities had to be projectised
and integrated into the Municipal budgets. It
became clear that Municipal finances are chaotic
and in a mess; system of accounting needed to
be modernised. Within these constraints, city
development and zonal plans were prepared. These
are now being used to secure commitments from
State and Central Governments to enable the
implementation of such plans.
A
delegation of elected councillors and Municipal
officials from 7 states visited these towns during
the planning process, so that they could undertake
similar exercises in their own Municipalities.
PRIA
is now engaging with the recently launched National
Urban Renewal Mission(NURM) and its sub-scheme
for small and medium towns UIDSSMT(Urban Infrastructure
Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns)
to promote such participatory town planning process
in the procedures for accessing governmental resources
for urban development. These new initiatives under
NURM, for the first time in the country, provide
a window of oppurtunity to address the agenda
of reforming urban governance in India.
