Sustainable cities are the way to go for growth: Hardeep Singh Puri

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Union Minister for Urban and Housing affairs Hardeep Singh Puri has said a suitable plan has to be drawn up for equitable and sustainable cities as the country’s economy would be driven by urban areas in the future. While speaking at India’s Connect Karo-2021 event organised by World Resources Institute, he said ‘Atmanirbhar India’ can be achieved only if Indian cities that contribute 70% to the national GDP by 2030, are productive. For this, challenges related to climate, urban planning, housing and transportation needs to be addressed, he said.

PMAY has reached maturity stage

Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0 will be launched with an outlay of Rs 1.41 lakh crore to focus on sludge management, waste water treatment, segregation of garbage at source and reduction of single use plastics and controlling air pollution through management of construction and demolition waste, and bio-remediation at dump sites, the minister said.

Through its various initiatives, the central government is taking steps to address issues like transportation and housing. By quoting estimates of the urban population expected to touch 630 million by 2030, Puri highlighted that the government has invested over Rs 11 lakh crore in urban development in the last seven and a half years.

As the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) reached a stage of saturation, the government has started a new initiative, the minister said. This was done as more people moved into urban areas in search of job and the new scheme would provide affordable rental housing, he added.

Puri emphasised the need to provide cost effective and efficient transportation system, like the mass transit systems such as Metro in cities. The role of civil society members was also acknowledged by the minister.