NEW DELHI (INDIA): About 19 States and the Union Territory of Chandigarh were today rewarded with performance incentive for promoting urban reforms under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) during 2015-16. While Tamil Nadu topped the list of performing States, Chandigarh headed the list of Union Territories.
Minister of Urban Development M.Venkaiah Naidu felicitated the lead performers with mementoes and cheques during INDOSAN Conference in New Delhi. He said that the focus of reforms during 2015-16 was on e-governance, Double Entry Accounting, collection of user charges and municipal taxes, water and energy audit, single window clearences and the focus of reforms during 2016-17 is online building permissions in all the 53 million plus cities, replacement of old water pumpsets with energy efficient ones, reuse of treated water and urban flooding mitigation planning.
Reform incentive distributed to 20 States/UT was : Tamil Nadu (Rs.61.34 crore), Karnataka (Rs.29.92 crore), Odisha (Rs.10.27 crore), Telangana (Rs.10.73 crore), Kerala (15.00 crore), Chattisgarh (Rs.13.00 crore), Andhra Pradesh (Rs.13.62 crore), MP (Rs.33.45 crore), Gujarat (Rs.26.72 crore), Bihar (Rs.15.04 crore), Rajasthan (Rs.20.80 crore), Mizoram (Rs.1.63 crore), Maharashtra (Rs.45.57 crore), UP (Rs.63.47 crore), Jharkhand (Rs.7.28 crore), Himachal Pradesh (Rs.3.54 crore), Tripura (Rs.1.70 crore), West Bengal (Rs.24.89 crore), Goa (Rs.1.34 crore) and Chandigarh (0.69 crore).
Rs.400 crore was earmarked for reform incentive during 2015-16. 23 States/UTs applied to the Ministry of Urban Development. After verification of claims States/UT scoring 70% marks were identified for giving reform incentive. Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir and A & N Islands could not qualify.