Jammu, July 21: Deputy Chief Minister   Tara Chand chaired a high level review meeting of the Housing and Urban Development Department to take stock of progress on Institutional Reforms under Jawahar Lal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) and Asian Development Bank (ADB), here.
 The meeting was attended by the Minister for Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation,   Raman Bhalla, Principal Secretary, PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control,   A.K. Angurana, Principal Secretary, Planning,   B. B. Vyas, Commissioner Secretary Housing & Urban Development Department,   Suresh Kumar, Commissioner, JMC,   Mubarak Singh, Director, Local Bodies, Jammu,   F.C. Bhagat, Director, Institutional Reforms, ERA, Dr. A. Rashid, Director, ERA,   Vinod Sharma and other senior officers.
 The meeting was convened to review monthly progress of the Department in tune with the Chief Minister’s instructions to have periodical appraisal and follow up of targets for strengthening Urban Local Bodies and Municipalities.
 The Commissioner Secretary, Housing and Urban Development Department gave a comprehensive presentation highlighting institutional reforms undertaken to make the existing laws more transparent and in tune with the modern urban requirements.
 Appreciating the pace of reforms, the Deputy Chief Minister called for fine tuning of Municipalities and Urban Local Bodies to cater the growing needs of urbanization. He underscored the need to develop urban like facilities in peripheral areas of cities and towns besides rural belts to check the increasing pressure on urban habitations.  
 Highlighting the need to implement e-governance in Municipalities and Local bodies,   Tara Chand impressed upon the authorities to complete computerization of records and other related works on fast track basis, so that e – governance project can soon be implemented, adding e-governance will go a long way in promoting transparency and simplifying procedures.
 The meeting decided to approach Law department for review of various laws and bye- laws such as Town Planning Act 1963, Development Act 1970 and other provisions, requiring amendments as per present day urbanization needs.
 The Deputy Chief Minister directed for simplification of procedures so that the department acts as a facilitator for urban growth. This , he said will encourage more investment  in Housing and Urban Development.

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