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Written By murali772 - 8 January, 2009

Bangalore Infrastructure Waste Management urban development Media Reports water supply sewerage public transport

Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa inaugurated the Centre for Infrastructure, Sustainable Transportation and Urban Planning (CiSTUP) on the premises of Indian Institute of Science (IISc) here on Friday. CiSTUP will focus on issues related to urban transport, planning and infrastructure, besides urban local issues such as water supply, sewerage and solid waste management.

The first meeting of the executive council of the centre will be held before January 26.

CiSTUP is planning to hold an international conference on urban infrastructure and geoinformatics on March 12 and 13. A memorandum of understanding between the Government of Karnataka and IISc to set up CiSTUP was signed on November 19, 2008.

Various government agencies like the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), BMTC, KSRTC, NEKRTC and NWKRTC are the stakeholders in the centre and have contributed to the corpus fund of Rs 30 crore. The centre will run on the interest generated from the corpus fund, besides course fees, training fees and consultancy fees, and will not spend any part of the corpus fund.

The grant of Rs 30 crore is the largest budget for an individual centre at IISc.

As United Nations University (UNU) University status CiSTUP will be developed in the coming years to attain the status of a United Nations University (UNU) on the lines of UNU, Tokyo and UNU, Maastricht, The Netherlands. CiSTUP, Bangalore will be the South Asian centre of UNU on urban planning, transport and infrastructure.

For the full report, click on:
http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Sit+up+and+take+note+Cistup+is+here&artid=nZ9vTXLlt5U=&SectionID=7GUA38txp3s=&MainSectionID=fyV9T2jIa4A=&SectionName=zkvyRoWGpmWSxZV2TGM5XQ==&SEO=

It was not for want of such a Centre that things have been going wrong all this while. But, whatever, if it can help professionalise the outlook, may be we can hope for better days.

Muralidhar Rao

COMMENTS

Determining contribution

siddharthu - 11 January, 2009 - 21:59

Any move to structure urban planning is welcome as long it is either empowered itself or the empowered entity is mandated to adopt feasible suggestions from such institutions. Probably it might be a good idea for the Government to adopt and publish a publicly visible Balance Score Card for all such bodies and collaborations that it sets up. A yearly review of the scorecard can then determine the funding available to each such institution.

A welcome development

psaram42 - 9 January, 2009 - 15:02

A Long overdue Multi disciplinary research center like this one is very appropriate addition to the premier institute of our nation. 

It is indeed a very exciting development for us in Praja. The realities on ground are exasperating. However it is important to re - search though in theory to get an insight to the problem facing us on the ground. 

Politics and research are two different entities both important in there own merit / context. They need not be confused to be contradictory.

A slew of new taxes

mcadambi - 15 January, 2009 - 19:07

 The Union Urban Development Department has written to every state to fix annual renewal fees for DLs, and taxes for diesel cars for personal use. These funds are to be used towards Urban Transport Fund which would take care of funding needs for ULB (Urban Local Body) transport infrastructure.

http://www.starofmysore.com/main.asp?type=news&item=19328

Full Text

mcadambi - 15 January, 2009 - 19:08

 RENEWAL CHARGES FOR DLS SOON 

 

Bangalore, Jan. 15- The Union Urban Development Ministry has asked the States to set up a dedicated Urban Transport Fund through collecting annual renewal charges for Driving Licences (DLs) from motorists, additional registration charges for two-wheelers and four-wheelers and registration charges for diesel vehicles for personal use.

The Ministry, in its order to all the Chief Secretaries and State Urban Ministries on Monday, suggested various measures to generate money to set up an Urban Transport Fund at the State-level that could be utilised to address urban transport issues.

According to Union Urban Development Ministry officials, the directive suggests that States should levy additional charges and new fees in various sectors.

"The measure aims at financially enabling State Governments to handle transport issues. Though there are different grants and aids under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) and annual budgetary allocations, the funds available are insufficient to carry out transport reforms. Such a system exists in many countries in the Middle East, Asia-Pacific as well as European countries," the officials say.

Further, the Ministry which is in the final stages of formulating a National Commission on Urbani-sation is of the opinion that if India has to move forward, reforms in the transport sector is essential.

Tax personal transport heavily

mcadambi - 15 January, 2009 - 19:10

GoK should heavily tax personal transport. This is the only way public transport can be encouraged.

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