NEW DELHI March 15

During debates on the merits of bringing in private water experts to distribute drinking water to homes in urban India 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, one story is often repeated.

It is the story of a woman, a daily wage earner from Hubli-Dharwad, tier-II twin towns in north Karnataka that received two hours of water supply every 15 days in the summer of 2002.

Isher Ahluwalia-led panel says the govt should invest at least . 32.4 lakh cr in 20 years

The government needs to scale up urban development funding by at least 15% per annum in the 12th Plan (2011-17) to meet the challenges of rapid urbanisation in the country, an expert committee has said.

Citing the need for an investment of .

A high-powered expert committee on urban infrastructure, chaired by Isher Judge Ahluwalia, has recommended bringing the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM) and the housing and urban poverty alleviation under a single unified command to ensure that sustainable urbanisation was facilitated in the coun try without leaving out the urban poor out from the scheme of things.

The c

JAIPUR: The Rajasthan Government has received Rs.200 crore for providing civic amenities in the slum colonies in 55 urban areas of the State under the Integrated Housing for Slum Development Programme and spent Rs.125 crore of the amount on various construction and development works.

State Principal Urban Development Secretary G. S.

Under the second phase of the Basic Service to the Urban Poor (BSUP) scheme of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) would construct 1,028 housing units for the urban poor families at Amingaon.

The project is second biggest of its kind in the State after the Fatasil BSUP project, where construction work is going on for 1,104 housi

United Nation Development Programme's India Urban Poverty Report, 2009 has pegged the number of slum dwellers in Uttar Pradesh at 44 lakh.

Ranchi, Feb.

NEW DELHI: As it struggles to get a grip on its finances in the post-Commonwealth Games scenario, the Delhi government on Monday got a Central grant of Rs 1257.86 crore in the Budget.

Up from last year's Rs 1080.51 crore, this year's grant sets aside Rs 500 crore for infrastructure like last year but gives a boost to projects for the urban poor with a grant of Rs 400 crore.