Centre to soon introduce 'Rurban Mission': Birender Singh

RAIPUR: Union Rural Development Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh today said the Centre will soon introduce ' Rurban Mission' project to develop cluster of villages into model town in the country.

"Former President A P J Abdul Kalam's dream project PURA (providing urban amenities in rural areas) did not attained success because there was no participation of the state government in it. The state government was completely cut-off," Singh told reporters here when asked whether the Centre will reintroduce PURA project.

"In place of PURA, we are planning to float Rurban Mission under which a cluster of villages having population upto 50,000 will be formed and later will be developed into a model town in a way like a new township or urban area," he said.

"As per the criteria, the group of villages may vary from 2-3 to 10-15 based on the population limit of 50,000. All the basic amenities will be provided in these model towns, including malls," the minister said.

"We are giving a final touch to the project following which it will go to Cabinet for final nod. In next 3 years, such 300 centres will developed for which a budget of Rs 6,000 crore will be earmarked," he added.

According to Singh, the project will have participation of states and wherever possible private players would also be invited for their participation in developing model town.

Besides, we will also focus in the participation of community of villagers in it, he added.