UPA’s PURA to make way for ‘Rurban’ now

NEW DELHI: The National Democratic Alliance government is all set to junk another of UPA government’s pet projects. This one — PURA — aimed at providing urban amenities in rural areas is to be replaced with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s brainchild Rurban, implemented successfully by the Gujarat government.

The minister of state for rural development Upendra Kushwaha on Tuesday told HT that PURA had design flaws and had failed to take off.

“PURA was supposed to be a model for PPP project but after having been launched in 2012, the project is yet to see any investment from the private players,” Kushwaha said.

The scheme, envisioned by former president Abdul Kalam, aimed at providing street lights, drainage, roads, telecom lines in villages, was introduced in 2003 but found no takers as it lacked specific guidelines for operationalisation. In 2012, the project was revived but failed again as it didn’t attract investments from the private sector and there was lack of coordination.

Under ‘Rurban’, the scheme will see major investment by the government and will focus on creating community assets and improving basic infrastructure.

Lifted straight out of Gujarat the concept will see formation of a dedicated institutional set up in the form of a Rurban cell under panchayat/ rural development department.