Central team to inspect Amrut works

The central government has decided to send a team for field inspection of the ongoing Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (Amrut) works in the state.

Director of Amrut’s union urban development department, Vinay Pratap Singh, in a letter to the TS government, asked them to direct the departments concerned and officials to cooperate with the central team by extending required data as requested by central team members. Amrut works in Telangana are going on very slowly due to a lack of funds.

Vinay Pratap Singh said that the Union ministry of urban affairs has decided to conduct a third party evaluation of reforms implemented by the states in 2015-16 and 2016-17 and has entrusted this task to the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA).

He said for this purpose, the NIUA will also take the help of various training entities, empanelled by the union urban development ministry for capacity-building activities.

He said that this evaluation study has to be completed within a month. The team members would be required to conduct city visits for on-site field verification of the reform milestones. They would also collect necessary documents from respective urban local bodies and conduct validation and analysis of reforms undertaken.

The NIUA will prepare standard formats for field verification, online verification, verification of documentary evidence and finally submit a report to the ministry.

For smooth conduct and completion of this assignment, Vinay Pratap Singh has requested the state government to instruct the concerned officials to extend full support and cooperation to the NIUA and training entities.

In Telangana, the central government has identified 12 urban local bodies under Amrut.