Centre to give Rs 3,250 cr for decongestion, dev work in Delhi

NEW DELHI, November 22: Urban Development Ministry has decided to give a total of Rs 3,250 crore to Delhi government, DDA and North Corporation to decongest the city and carry out several development projects, its Minister M Venkaiah Naidu today said. The Union Minister made the announcement here at the launch of 'Swachch Delhi Abhiyan' to be held from November 22-30 that seeks to clear the capital of garbage and construction waste. "From the Urban Development Fund in my ministry, Rs 3,250 core will be provided for decongestion and development works in the capital city, which would be distributed to the Delhi government, North Delhi Municipal Corporation and Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for implementing various projects," Naidu said. The Union minister there also handed over a cheque of Rs 96.7 crore to the Delhi government as funds from the Ministry, which Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal promptly disbursed to the urban local bodies at the event. "Out of the total amount Rs 1,500 crore would be given to Delhi government for decongestion of roads by addressing different choking points through improvement of road geometry, construction of underpasses and flyovers. The projects would be prioritised in consultation with Delhi Police, Municipal Bodies and PWD," he said. NDMC would be given Rs 85 crore to complete balance work of construction of Grade Separator at Rani Jhansi Road (flyover from St Stephen's Hospital to Filmistan). This will reduce travel time from Karol Bagh to North Delhi from the present one hour to just 10 minutes, he added. DDA will be given 1,665 crore to execute four projects that would help in significant reduction of traffic congestion in the city. "A sum of Rs 615 crore for construction of rail-under- bridge (RUB) at Holambi of 1 km and rail-over-bridge (ROB) of 1.4 km at Mundka on Urban Eastern Road-II. Rs 400 crore for construction of ROB of 860 m at Narela on Urban Eastern Road-I for decongesting Outer Ring Road. "Rs 300 crore for making a tunnel near Bhagya Vihar and Rs 350 crore for Dwarka Expressway from Urban Eastern Road-II to Northern Peripheral Road for decongesting Outer Ring Road and NH-8 respectively," he said. Out of the over Rs 96 crore fund for sanitation, the break-up of distribution among different agencies is - North Corporation or NDMC (Rs 34.53 crore), SDMC or South Corporation (Rs 23.64 crore), EDMC or East Corporation (Rs 24.56 crore), New Delhi Municipal Council (Rs 76 lakh), Delhi Cantonment Board (Rs 3.32 crore) and Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board or DUSIB (Rs 4.89 crore), a senior Delhi government official said. "Besides, a task force has also been set up to reconcile the claims between MCD and DDA. And, till that is done, DDA will make a payment of Rs 18.70 crore to the three civic bodies towards property tax/service charges. This includes a payment of Rs 8.70 crore to NDMC, Rs 6,80 crore to SDMC and Rs 3.20 crore to EDMC," he added. PWD Minister Satyendra Jain at the launch said, "We have come to know that DDA is, through a private company, helping in rehabilitation of 343 slum area...I would like to request Naiduji to also give us the same opportunity and we can rehabilitate them as well." Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) CEO V K Jain said that efforts were being made to provide sanitation access to people living in slum areas. "There are 675 slum clusters and 3,06,600 households and we are trying to build toilets in those places... Our target is 4,000 water closets per year till 2018 and another 2,000 of them by 2019," Jain said. On garbage dumping, Naidu said, DDA has given seven land-fill sites in the city, and four more sites are in the pipeline. Sisodia also added, "We are well-equipped, and with such concerted efforts, a clean Delhi in next four years or so is not a far-fetched dream." North Delhi Mayor Ravinder Gupta said, "'acche din aa gaye hay', because we are together on this issue of sanitation.