In a boost to urbanised villages in the Capital, the Delhi government will soon rename its Rural Development Board as the Village Development Board, giving the new agency the power to carry out works in all villages.
The new Board will be set up within the next couple of months after the Cabinet’s nod, Delhi Development Minister Gopal Rai said on Wednesday. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Rural Development Board. The Board has a budget of ₹300 crore and the mandate to carry out infrastructure projects only in rural villages.
For urbanised villages
“We will upgrade the Board and increase the budget to ₹600 crore, which means ₹2 crore for each of the about 300 villages. The existing Board was not allowed to use its funds in urbanised villages,” said Mr. Rai.
He added that many villages had been declared urbanised “on paper”, but development works, including construction of roads and drainage, had not been completed. The new Board will be able to spend its budget on works in urbanised and rural villages. Till then, the existing Board will continue to approve and fund projects. On Wednesday, the Board approved 400 different projects, including setting up cremation grounds and the construction of boundary walls of parks, he said.
He said that work orders for 36 other projects had been given. Tenders for the projects, worth ₹37 crore, would be floated by the Irrigation and Flood Control Department by August 20.
