Considering the historical importance of Porbandar, the national steering group of Jawaharlal Nenhru National Urban Renewal Mission(JNNURM) has included it as a ‘Mission City’ under it as a “special case”. The birth place of Mahatma Gandhi has now become the 29th ‘Mission City’ under JNNURM, selected for infrastructure development. Porbandar is Gujarat’s fifth city under the JNNURM after Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat and Rajkot.

JNNURM provides huge financial aid for urban improvement

The JNNURM inclusion will facilitate the city to get huge grants for urban development works. Ahmedabad’s well-known projects such as Shivaranjani over bridge, Vasna-Pirana river bridge, Shreyas crossing over bridge, Surat’s Nana Varachha over bridge etc. have been completed under the JNNURM aid. Gujarat’s some of the Mega projects in progress such as Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati Riverfront, Ahmedabad and Rajkot’s Bus Rapid Transit System, new storm water lines and numerous over bridges, sewerage, drainage line works are under the JNNURM. Rs449318.49 lakh is a sum of sanctioned projects under the JNNURM only in Gujarat.

Well thought implementation of JNNURM can change Porbandar

The projects under JNNURM will include the works like infrastructure, sanitation system, construction of houses for the urban poor and roads.

“Drinking water is the main problem. The pipe line was established in the time of old-Saurashtra state regime. Then there are storm water drainage works that are to be done. Roads and fly-over bridges are other issues that would be addressed through JNNURM,” says Congress leader and Porbandar MLA Arjun Modhwadia talking with DeshGujarat.

Modhwadia said that proposals of around Rs600 crore projects under JNNURM are in progress. The proposals would rout through Porbandar’s local body, district collector office and the state government’s Gujarat Urban Development Mission. After this formality, the Porbandar municipality will have to sign a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) under JNNURM to have access to funds to improve basic urban infrastructure.

Porbandar with a population of 1.7 lakh can avail 80 per cent of the central funding and only 20 per cent will have to be arranged by it from its own resources.

‘Gandhi’ included is good,but Non inclusion of ‘Sardar’ can be an issue

The government of Gujarat had demanded to include Gandhinagar(Gujarat’s capital), Karamsad-Anand(Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s native village) and Porbandar(Mahatma Gandhi’s birth place) under the JNNURM.

Whenever Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi visits one of these three towns, he raises JNNURM inclusion’s issue in public without failure.

India’s leader of the opposition and Parliament member from Gujarat Shri L.K.Advani too had raised a voice in parliament to include these three in the mission.

Finally, at least, Porbandar has been included, thanks to Porbandar MLA Arjun Modhwadia’s link with Delhi’s political big wig Congressman Ahmed Patel and Narendra Modi’s continuous vocal political attacks on this issue, but the BJP in Gujarat may continue to raise the issue of non-inclusion of Saradar Vallabhbhai Patel’s Anand-Karamsad and Gandhinagar in JNNURM.