As per the provisions of Article 243W of the Constitution, in conjunction with the Seventh and Twelfth Schedules, matters relating to urban development fall within the purview of States/Urban Local Bodies. However, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) provides programmatic support to the States/Union Territories (UTs) in their urban development agenda through its flagship Missions/Programmes viz. Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT 2.0), Smart Cities Mission (SCM), Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U 2.0), Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U) and Urban Transport. In order to mitigate the negative impact of urbanization on metro cities including Chennai, Delhi & Mumbai, as also to promote sustainable transition, Missions and Programmes promote projects covering areas like rejuvenation of water bodies, re-use of waste water, use of renewable energy sources, promoting walkability and non-motorised transport, rain water harvesting, solid waste management, sanitation and hygiene and others.

AMRUT:

In order to incentivize planned urbanization, a Sub Scheme under AMRUT on Formulation of GIS-based Master Plans for 500 AMRUT Cities is under implementation, to support States for preparation of Master plans in AMRUT towns. The Sub-Scheme aims at geo database creation and formulation of GIS based Master Plans. Further under AMRUT 2.0, Scheme for Formulation of GIS based Master Plans of Class-II Towns with population of 50,000 - 99,999 has been launched to support States financially and technically for undertaking planning initiatives in smaller cities.

In order to incentivize States to undertake urban planning reforms, ‘Schemes for Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment’ of Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance was initiated. Under this scheme, the States were incentivised to promote efficiency in land-use, sustainable development, affordability and revenue generation using urban planning as a tool.

Smart City Mission:

Smart City Mission aims to prepare small and medium towns to cater to the increasing urban population to help alleviate the burden of cities with very large population.

Swachh Bharat Mission – Urban (SBM-U 2.0):

SBM-U 2.0 launched on 1st October 202l includes Solid Waste Management (SWM) component with the objectives of achieving 100 per cent safe scientific processing of municipal solid waste in all cities. This also includes processing of Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Housing & Urban Affairs, Shri Tokhan Sahu in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.

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MJPS/SK