Empowerment of urban bodies must for new urbanization: CM Kamal Nath

Bhopal: Chief Minister Kamal Nath has said that it is necessary to empower the urban bodies in view of the increasing urbanization. He said that elected public representatives of local institutes should recognize the rapid change and work for expansion of their cities with new thinking and vision. Kamal Nath was addressing the meeting of the chairpersons of municipal councils and municipalities at the Mantralaya on Wednesday.
Chief Minister Kamal Nath said that now is the time when we should plan our small and big cities according to future requirements. In this era of change, people’s expectations have also increased. The need is that we should change our working style and culture and work for planned development of cities according to the expectations of the people. The Chief Minister said that the urban bodies will have to develop new sources of income along with government assistance. For this, they should start new activities.
The Chief Minister said that the new government has proven its intentions and policies through its working in the last one year. There was financial crisis. The state was on top in the country in suicides by farmers, unemployment and crimes against women. Amidst these challenges, the government took some major decisions. While fulfilling the promise of loan waiver, loans of 21 lakh farmers has been waived. Several technical difficulties came up during the process of loan waiver due to which several problems had to be faced but we solved them all. From this month we are going to start the second phase of loan waiver. Faith has been returned for investment to tackle the challenge of unemployment. Kamal Nath said that the office-bearers of urban bodies should play an important role in taking our work to the public.
Urban Development and Housing Minister Jaivardhan Singh said that we are fortunate to have Chief Minister Kamal Nath’s experience and guidance for the planned development of the cities of the state. While serving as the Union Minister for Urban Development Kamal Nath gave a new direction to the development of cities across the country and introduced several schemes. Singh said that he is committed for the effective implementation of the urban development policies of the government. Singh said that the government is working with a new outlook for the development of small and big cities. Everyone has a right to drinking water for which the government is forming a “Right to Water” policy. The activities by which the cities are identified, are also being conserved.
Chairperson of the state’s Municipal Council and Nagar Parishad Sangathan Harmeet Kaur and other heads gave suggestions to strengthen the urban bodies.