Punjab News- Himachal Minister Sudhir Sharma meets union minister Kamal Nath

Dharamsala, October 10, 2013: Top officials of the Himachal Pradesh government and union urban development ministry will hold a high level meeting in New Delhi on November 26. The meeting is to discuss the pending projects of the state government said Himachal urban development minister Sudhir Sharma after meeting with union urban development minister Kamal Nath in Nirman Bhawan, New Delhi.

Himachal urban development minister Sudhir Sharma and union urban development minister Kamal Nath will represent their respective sides to review the progress made in the urban development in Himachal Pradesh and discuss all the pending projects submitted by state government to expedite the urban development in the state and sanction the projects in time bound manner.

Himachal Pradesh urban development minister Sudhir Sharma requested the Centre to allow the state government to set up Urban Mobility Transport Authority in the state to streamline the transport network in the urban areas of the state under one umbrella.

He requested him to provide relaxation for setting up Urban Mobility Transport Authority in hill states of the country keeping in view of the tough geographical and topographical conditions in these states and added that since the activities under JNNURM has been extended to small towns and municipal limits and hence the centre should give relaxations to set up Urban Mobility Transport Authority in all hill states to streamline the activities under the scheme. He said that it will help to provide dedicated services to urban commuters keeping in view of their separate transport needs and hectic life style.

He told the union minister that state government has already submitted DPRs of the various development projects in the state and meets the full criteria fixed by central government in this regard.

He demanded liberal funding for urban transport network in the state keeping in view of the rapid migration to urban areas of the state due to massive industrialisation in the recent years. Union urban  development minister Kamal Nath assured that central government will relax the norms to set up Urban Mobility Transport Authority in hill states and also assured full co-operation from central government for overall development of urban areas of the state. www.cityairnews.com