I had a meeting with the CRISIL Infrastructure Advisory Team headed by Mr Kaustabh Basu. They are assessing how well the states are doing Urban Reforms. They will visit various Municipalities including the Kolkata Municipal Corporation from tomorrow onwards.
One of the areas in which we discussed a lot was the manner in which at least 25% of developed land in housing projects could be earmarked for the urban poor. We mentioned that in West Bengal, for the public sector or joint venture housing projects, 25% of apartments/ flats were being earmarked for the urban poor in the EWS (Economically Weaker Section) / LIG (Lower Income Group). However, to make it mandatory for the private developers as well, it is necessary to have a law. We requested Crisil to consider making a recommendation that a model law may be enacted by the Central Government.
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I liked the Times of India (Kolkata Edition) campaign on "Clean Kolkata" started today. The central idea is that besides the KMC, citizens also have a role in it. I posted the link in my facebook wall this morning and already I'm having a few comments and 'like's.
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I've asked the Executive Engineer of our Department to consider installing energy efficient LED outdoor lamps in the housing estates of my department. Ms Aditi Dass of Climate Change has agreed to help. She's coming to Kolkata on 5th Aug and may look at this.
We drafted out the notification for 25% reservation for EWS/LIG today (12 Aug 2010); it took long because we wanted to specify the minimum carpet area of an EWS flat (20 sq m)
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