Heralding an urban renaissance

Madhya Pradesh, the cleanest state in the country, has achieved several landmarks in socio-economic and infrastructure development, beautification and environmental protection in urban bodies keeping in view the concept of sustainable development, and made records in various central-run schemes in the last two decades. The state has increased the budget to Rs 15,850.54 crore for urban development for twenty years while it was only Rs 435.56 crore in 2003. The state has witnessed a spike of 3639.12 per cent in budget provision for the Urban Development and Housing Department during the last two decades.

Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urban area development has sped up with remarkable financial support from the central government and visionary thoughts of the PM. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh has been leaving no stone unturned to shine the state's cities on the world map since he came to power. During the last three years, the urban area of the state has touched several milestones in the visionary ideas of MP Urban Development and Housing Minister Bhupendra Singh with the support of his deputy OPS Bhadouria.

During the last twenty years, the state has witnessed remarkable achievements in infrastructural development works with sustainable development in the cities with integrated development strategies such as the construction of pucca houses, better roads, adequate drinking water supply, advanced sewage systems, management of solid waste, street lights public transportation etc. Making better public services in the ULBs, the state has set up single window governance equipped with an advanced Information Technology-based delivery system.

At present, MP’s total urban population is 2,34,69,405 concentrated in 413 ULBs as follows: 16 Municipal Corporations, 99 Nagar Palika Parishad and 298 Nagar Parishads whereas in 2003 there were only 377 local bodies.

The State Makes record in implementation of PMAY (Urban)

Madhya Pradesh has achieved the second rank in the country under the 'Best Performing State' category in the implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) Urban. Prime Minister Narendra Modi conferred the state with the award on October 19, 2022, at the Indian Urban Housing Conclave held in Rajkot of Gujrat. Urban Development and Housing Minister Bhupendra Singh received the award on behalf of the state and MP Urban Administration and Development (UAD)Commissioner Bharat Yadav was present on this occasion. Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs (HUA) Hardeep Singh Puri was present during the function.

The UAD department has also been conferred with the Skoch Award 2023 for outstanding performance in the PMAY (U).

Over 9,54,000 pucca houses have been sanctioned in the state under the PMAY (Urban) in the state during the last three and a half years, out of which, 6,81,000 housings have been constructed so far while 2.78 Lakh houses are under construction. Notably, keys to 3,20,000 pucca houses have been provided to beneficiaries of the scheme during the last three years. The state has fixed a target to complete the remaining sanctioned houses by the end of this year. Under the scheme, an amount of Rs 21,000 crore has been released so far against the sanctioned over Rs 23,000 crore by the Centre and the State government. MP was also honoured with the best state award, PMAY Empowering India, on August 8, 2022, by the Union Minister of State for HUA, Kaushal Kishore for outstanding performance in the implementation of the scheme. The state has also received the top award in the country in the Convergence (state-level technical cell) scheme and IEC (information education and communication activities in the PMAY (U). Seven other awards have also been given to the state in the '150 days challenge' such as Dewas Municipal Corporation, Gohad Nagar Palika Parishad and Jobat Nagar Panchayat.

Creates records in PM SVANidhi scheme

Madhya Pradesh has made a record in providing affordable working capital loans to 8.33 Lakh Street vendors engaged in urban areas under the PM SVANidhi (Prime Minister Street Vendor's Atmnirbhar Nidhi) scheme.

A total of Rs 1030.47 crore loans were disbursed into the accounts of 8.33 Lakh beneficiaries (street vendors) so far in three tranches, out of the 9,80,707 eligible applications registered in the ULBs, while it sanctioned to 8,11,314 stakeholders.

In the first, second and third portions, the loan amount and beneficiaries are 566.76 Cr and 5.69 Lakh, 359.01Cr and 1.797 Lakh, and 104.7 Cr and 21074, respectively.

According to recent data from the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (H&UA), MP is in second place in disbursing loans to vendors. The state has also been in first place in the country for the last three years in the PM SVANidhi scheme.

At present, the state has achieved 75 per cent progress against the target of providing loans to 11,10,400 street vendors given by the Union Ministry of HUA.

Over Rs 2.92 Lakh digital exchange has been done by the urban street vendors so far and they have gotten a cashback of Rs 8.21 crore.

The whole bit of 5,37,102 beneficiaries have been sanctioned loans under the 'SVANidhi Se Samruddhi' scheme in the 8 identified schemes of the central government, in which Sagar Municipal Corporation has sanctioned 94.06 per cent loans, the highest among the 16 corporations of the state. Similarly, in Nagar Palika Parishads and Nagar Parishads categories, Sausar and Mohgaon of Chhindwara district have topped sanctioning 95.52 and 99.30 per cent of cases, respectively.

The PM SVANidhi is a micro-credit scheme that was launched by the Union Ministry of HUA on June 1, 2020, to provide handholding support to street vendors to tide over the COVID-19 pandemic-induced economic stress. It facilitates collateral-free loans of ₹10,000, with subsequent loans of ₹20,000 and ₹50,000 with 7% interest subsidy.

Public services made online in local bodies

Keeping in mind public facilitation, all different types of municipal services have been made online through the e-Nagarpalika portal. 43 services of the Urban Development and Housing Department have been identified under the Lok Sewa Guarantee Act.

Building plan approval is being provided online in all the local bodies through ABPAS (automated building plan approval system) which was launched on April 1, 2018. Around 2,57,874 permissions have been given online so far. The time period for proceeding with building permission has been reduced to 15 days from 30 days.

Development schemes for 29 cities have been made effective after the government’s approval. The land use certificates and layout approvals are being provided online in 25 and 14 cities respectively.

Under the provisions of the Land Development Rules, online compounding has been implemented in 409 local bodies in the state. The fee for it is generated automatically through the system.

Through the ABPAS, citizens can receive certificates for the plinth, services, completion and occupancy.

Gearing up urban public transportation facilities

Around 1,619 buses, including 1195 intracity and 424 intercity buses, are plying now on the urban routes while there was no bus operated in 2003 under the urban transportation. For charging electric vehicles, there are 39 and 10 charging points have been set up in Indore and Bhopal cities respectively to promote environmental protection.

217 e-charging infrastructure development works are under construction in Bhopal, Jabalpur and Indore cities to boost the operation of electric buses. 47 solar integrated electric charging stations are under-processed and 80 e-buses are plied in the city.

MP creates history in the Swachh Bharat Mission

In the Swachh Survey -2022, Madhya Pradesh has achieved the first rank in the country. Indore City of the state has achieved the first position in the country successively for the sixth time in the Swachhata Survey-2022 with a 7-star rating. Bhopal City has been the self-sustainable cleanest capital in the country with a 5-star rating. The state received 16 awards in this survey.

368 ULBs have been declared open defecation-free (ODF) in the state. 324, 6 and 38 local bodies have achieved the status of ODF++, ODF+ and ODF respectively. Bhopal and Indore cities have been announced Water+.

For the attainment of the resolution, 'Waste-to-Wealth', a bio-CNG (compressed natural gas) plant has been set up in Indore with a capacity of 550 metric tons. The plant is Asia’s biggest bio-CNG unit has been inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Such plants are also being established in Jabalpur and Bhopal city.

379 centralised composting units have been set up in 401 local bodies where compost is produced from the collected wet waste. The compost is being used as fertilisers in the adjoining villages for agricultural uses. 373 material recovery facility units have been set up through which dry waste is processed.