Your citizen Friendly Mysore Grahakara Parishat also known as Mysore Galata Parishat to this form members is taking an initiative to organize an expert group of people to generate ideas and data, provide timely feedback and monitor the progress of JNNURM. Some one on this forum had made a suggestion of inviting Chiranjivi Singh and we have decided to invite him. We need such such suggestions and also involvement of people in this venture. As you will see from my following write up, this is a gagantic effort and without the involvment of experts and professionals we will not be able to get the grant if we depend upon only the "professional politicians". This is not to imply that politicians do not have a role. They do and other expert groups like the one by MGP need to interact actively with them throughout.

Bhamy V. Shenoy

Can Mysore get Rs. 280 crores through JNNURM?


Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) is an imaginatively well designed programme with a vision to improve the crumbling urban infrastructure in our cities. This should lead to better standard of living especially for the poor. Mysore is one of the lucky cities to be considered under category C. Over the next seven years, Mysore can secure the central government grant of about Rs. 280 crores through this programme. If we can come up with innovative projects meeting the conditions set by the programme, we may be able to secure even more.

To put in perspective, MCC’s annual budget is about Rs. 90 crores and JNNURM will effectively increase its funding by as much as 40%. Indirectly while meeting the conditionalities set by the programme, MCC may be able to generate an additional amount of Rs. 50 crores per year. Thus JNNURM will double MCC’s annual budget. This will happen only if professionals with expertise take an active part and join hands with political leaders.

City Development Plan vs. CDP by MUDA

The main thrust of the JNNURM will be on infrastructure projects relating to water supply and sanitation, sewerage and drainage, solid waste management, road network, heritage area, preservation of water bodies, parking lots and spaces using Public Private Partnership, urban transport and redevelopment of old city areas, etc. There is also the suggested sub-mission of integrated development of slums

To secure funds, we need to prepare a city development plan. How will this dovetail with our simultaneous efforts of legal requirement of preparing Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) by MUDA? Earlier CDPs by MUDA have been total failure. They are nothing but legal documents to convert land reserved for green belt into residential and industrial sites. This is to help only the politicians and their supporters. Thus the City Development Plan is a godsend for us. There is an elaborate set of guide lines to be followed while developing the City Development Plan. Such a plan will be reviewed by independent experts at the central government level. Officials will not be able to hoodwink us in the preparation of City Development Plan as they did during CDPs. This is one area where NGOs with expertise can play a critical role.

Need for mandatory reforms

In order to secure grants, the City has to fulfill certain minimum conditions. It should have modern and transparent budgeting, accounting and financial management systems. It is only on paper MCC has some skeleton of E-governance. To be of any value, it should reduce cost and also be faster while serving citizens. MCC’s financial system is totally outdated based on single entry system. MGP’s suggestion to reform the system has fallen deaf ears all these years.

City’s services have to be financially self supportive. In other words, for example MCC has to collect rents from those who lease properties in Devaraj Market to cover the total costs. MCC will not be able to subsidize them. The same is true for customers of Vani Vilas water Works. At the same time, MCC is also expected to subsidize the urban poor. MCC needs to improve its planning procedures which should be citizen friendly. Local governance and services should be transparent and accountable to citizens. Property tax system should be reformed using GIS and also computerised. Basic services should be provided to the poor. These are the mandatory reforms to be implemented at the city level to secure grants.

At the state level, the mandatory reforms include the following: implementation of 74th amendment to the constitution in true spirit, rationalization of stamp duties to less than 5%, enactment of Public Disclosure law, formation of ward committees, assigning or aligning elected bodies with city planning function and transferring all the civic services to Urban Local Bodies. Will this happen in Karnataka?

JNNURM does not provide funding for items such as power, telecom, health, education and employment generation though it expects that city development plan to provide for them.

Under this program, there is a provision to make use of consultants approved by the government. Unfortunately our consultant IDECK has done a poor job so far in collecting baseline information on Mysore. This was apparent from their presentation of initial findings during a meeting to get public participation. The consultant will get as much 5% of the total fees paid directly by the central government which can amount to about Rs. 15 crores.

Expert and Political Monitoring Committees

The designers of the program have attached a great deal of importance to get public participation throughout the program. Will Mysoreans come forward to accept their responsibility? We need to identify at least 20 professionals with expertise in different fields to form an Expert Committee (EC). EC should organize a series of brain storming sessions soon to develop a vision statement for Mysore and to develop a set of strategies keeping in mind the minimum criteria set by the Mission. To manage the activities of (EC), there may be a need to hire a full time consultant. Public should raise money to pay his salary.

Simultaneously we need to form a Political Monitoring Committee (PMC) consisting of leaders from all the main political parties. PMC needs to draw up an action plan to implement the mandatory reforms both at the city and state level. PMC should interact closely with EC. This is just one strategy suggested to start the process of getting public involvement. If citizens keep quiet, and depend upon the officialdom to do the work, it is my prediction that Mysore will get little funding through JNNURM.