Karnataka Chief Secretary Arvind Jadhav took exception to the Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation’s (KUIDFC) opinion that only IIM graduates would be hired as professionals to be part of the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for the smart city project in Belagavi and Davangere.
At a meeting organised to review the progress of various Centrally-sponsored schemes in the city that was attended by Rajiv Gauba, Secretary to the Union Ministry of Urban Development on Tuesday, Mr. Jadhav said, “We need to change the mindset that only IIM produces good graduates. Why not other MBA graduates?”
Criticised
Both Mr. Jadhav and Mr. Gauba criticised the setting up of the SPV and KUIDFC’s proposal to send projects worth above Rs. 10 crore to the empowered panel headed by the Chief Secretary.
“If you keep sending projects above Rs. 10 crore to the empowered panel, then they will never take off under the smart city concept. The idea is to decentralise and give more powers at the local level,” Mr. Gauba said.
Mr. Gauba said the Union government is revising the guidelines and criteria for ranking of cities under the Swacch Bharat mission. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, he said the Centre, which so far had 75 cities in its list for ranking, will now include 500 cities across the country.
A notification on the revised guidelines and criteria will be announced this month-end and the new rankings will be announced in January, he said.
Earlier, officials from the State government sought an increase in the Centre’s assistance for the construction of toilets under the Swacch Bharat Mission.
Deputy Commissioners from various districts made a submission to the Centre through Mr. Gauba via video conferencing that Rs. 5,333 (including State government’s share) given for constructing toilets is not adequate. As a result of this, the State government was bearing an additional expenditure of nearly Rs. 14,000 on each toilet, they said.
