Without freedom from the past, there is no freedom at all, because the mind is never new, fresh, innocent. — J. Krishnamurti, Indian philosopher

Central Sanctioning Monitoring Committee has approved 324 projects amounting to over Rs 30,000 crore under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Programme and Central assistance amounting to around Rs 15,000 crore stands committed, as per the review of urban development schemes taken by the secretary, Union Ministry of Urban Development recently.
According to detailed data available as of mid-March, Maharashtra leads in the cost of sanctioned projects with 27 per cent and the top four states account for over two-thirds of the total JNNURM project cost. The record in utilisation of Central government assistance was, however, uniformly poor with the ratio of assistance released to that sanctioned (reflecting broadly pace of project implementation) working out to a poor 23 per cent at all-India level. Projects so far sanctioned fall in mainly water supply (37 per cent), sewerage (25 per cent) and public transport system and drainage and storm water drainage (11 per cent each).
While the progress in the reforms such as in internal earmarking of resources for urban poor was good with 35 cities out of 63 having achieved it by the third year, the same in other areas was slow. Although 12 states have committed to enact new Rent Control Law, only 6 have accomplished this milestone. In terms of rationalisation of stamp duty and reduction of duty by 5 per cent, only 5 states have been able to achieve this. At the ULB level mandatory reforms, some states have initiated full recovery of maintenance charges of water supply and sewerage.
Launched in December 2005, JNNURM entails Rs 50,000 crore reform-linked Central assistance over seven years for integrated development of urban infrastructure. Under the Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small & Medium Towns, Central assistance amounting to Rs 1,248.90 crore was released for 427 projects in 350 towns during the last financial year. The total cost of approved projects for which Central assistance has been released in the last three years is Rs 6,200 crore.
Funds requirements for urban water supply & sanitation development for the 11th Plan are placed at Rs 1.27 trillion, comprising Rs 0.54 trillion for water supply, Rs 0.53 trillion for sewerage & waste management and Rs 0.20 trillion for drainage.
Urbanisation is accelerating in India and the economy growth is fast tending to be a factor of urban efficiency and productivity. Metro cities and urban agglomerations would be home to 433 million people by 2021, up from 286 million in 2001, with mega cities expected to bear major population pressures. Unless some long term planning and reforms with requisite funds are implemented, the city life could turn out to be a nightmare for the city poor and middle-class. We only wish that state-level and local politicians see the urgency of the situation and pave the way for speedier implementation of plans for urban makeover.