Thursday, December 30, 2010

7 Awards For AP - Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy congratulated municipal and urban development officials for bagging 7 national awards

Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Sunday congratulated the officials of municipal administration and urban development, the GHMC, and the Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Kadapa municipal corporations on winning JNNURM Best Performance Awards in various categories.

Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development, Maheedhar Reddy, and officials of the department called on the Chief Minister and showed him the awards bagged by the department.

The Chief Minister advised them to concentrate on slum improvement in urban areas by providing the required infrastructure like storm water drains, drinking water supply and sanitation. Besides, he wanted the department to speed up the works of providing 24x7 water supply in all the municipalities.

Kiran Reddy asked the officials to concentrate on employment generation by promoting more self help groups in urban areas also.

At the 5th National Annual Conference of JNNURM hosted by the Union Ministry of Urban Development and Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation on December 3rd, Andhra Pradesh bagged the highest number of awards for performance in urban development, service delivery, governance reforms and pro-poor focus in implementation of projects and reforms.

The selected panel for the awards comprised of eminent and independent national urban experts, academicians, and practitioners. While Andhra Pradesh received 4 awards last year for performance in 2008-09, the state has improved its tally to 7 this year for its performance in 2009-10.

Andhra Pradesh has bagged 50% of the awards (7 out of 14 eligible awards) for best performance in various categories of urban and pro-poor development.

Union Minister for Urban Development S Jaipal Reddy, and Minister for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja distributed the coveted awards at the conference.

Award 1: Andhra Pradesh received the 1st prize awarded to states i.e. Best State for implementation of pro-poor governance and service delivery reforms including earmarking of pre-determined budget for the poor, reserving developed land for EWS and LIG category housing, and the provision of other services. The award, which also carries a cash prize of Rs. 5 lakh was bestowed upon Dr. Vijay Kumar, Secretary, Municipal Administration and Urban Development, and K Bhoopal Reddy, Managing Director, Andhra Pradesh Urban Finance and Infrastructure Development Corporation.

Award 2: Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) received the Best City award for improvement in solid waste management. Hyderabad Mayor Banda Karthika Chandra Reddy and Dr. Sameer Sharma, Commissioner, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, received the award and cash prize.

Awards 3 and 4: Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation received 2 prestigious prizes - Best BSUP City for delivery of basic services for the urban poor from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, and Best City for implementation of reforms from the Ministry of Urban Development. The Best BSUP City award was shared with Surat Municipal Corporation. Mayor P Janardhan Rao and V N Vishnu, Commissioner, Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation, received the awards and cash prizes.

Award 5: Vijayawada Municipal Corporation received the coveted Best City award for overall urban development and progress in service delivery from the Ministry of Urban Development. Piyush Kumar, Special Officer, VMC, and G Ravi Babu, Commissioner, Vijayawada Municipal Corporation, received the award.

Awards 6 and 7: From among the small and medium towns, Kadapa Municipal Corporation received the highest number of awards. It won 2 awards for implementation of the Integrated Housing and Slum Development Project (IHSDP), and Joint Award (along with Nanded in Maharashtra) for Best City in Community Mobilisation. D.John Samson, Commissioner, Kadapa Municipal Corporation, received the awards.