Bridging the gap between urban and rural India was a long-term dream of Former president APJ Abdul Kalam, who always stressed this fact time and time again. The Provision of urban amenities in rural areas model is also known as The Pura scheme was formulated in the year 2003 on republic day.
The Pura scheme strategy acts as a bridge between the rural and urban areas. It also balances the divide between socio-economic development by providing physical and social infrastructure.
Let us understand a bit more about the Pura scheme in this article
The scheme’s primary objective is to provide urban amenities and livelihood opportunities in rural areas and bridge the gap between urban and rural. It is known to envision an accelerated and holistic development of the rural region around a potential growth center in a gram panchayat through a PPP model for improving the quality of life in rural areas.
Some of the features of the Pura scheme include the following:-
1. The scheme’s objectives are achieved under a PPP framework between the gram panchayats and private sector partners with the support of the state government
2. The central sector scheme of PURA will source the core funding and be complemented by additional support through the convergence of various Central Government schemes.
3. The private sector brings on board its share of investment apart from operational expertise.
4. The private sector implements and manages the scheme on considerations of economic viability but is designed to be fully aligned with the overall objective of rural development.
There are several amenities provided under the Pura scheme which help in the growth and upliftment of the rural sector in the economy to bring it to par with the urban class.
1. Water and sewerage.
2. Construction and maintenance of village streets
3. Drainage
4. Solid waste management
5. Skill development
6. Development of economic activities
1. Village street lighting.
2. Telecom
3. Electricity
1. Village-linked tourism.
2. Integrated rural hub and rural market.
3. Agri – common services center, warehousing, etc.
4. Any other rural-economy-based project.
The private developers’ selection is made through a transparent, competitive technical bidding process with evaluation criteria and rigorous qualifications.
The private developers have the flexibility to select and identify the gram panchayat for undertaking the PURA projects based on their working experiences at the grassroots level or familiarity with the area. Since the consent of the concerned panchayats and no objection from the state governments is mandatory, the selection of the gram panchayat would reflect the concurrence of all the stakeholders.
The private developers will implement an action plan for the different PURA sub-projects over a construction period of a maximum of three years and an operations and maintenance (O&M) period of ten years from the date of commercial operation or completion of construction.
A dedicated project management team in the PURA division of the MoRD will coordinate and oversee all activities of the scheme’s implementation under the overall guidance of the project screening and monitoring committee.
The funding for projects under the PURA scheme can come from these four sources: MoRD schemes, non-MoRD schemes, private financing, and capital grants under PURA.
The primary objectives of the scheme are the provision of livelihood opportunities and urban amenities in rural areas to bridge the gap between urban-rural India.
The selection has been done through an open competitive technical bidding process with rigorous qualification and evaluation criteria. As these are pilot projects, therefore, there has been no financial bidding. In the pilot projects the bidders have been evaluated on their technical capability and assigned scores as per pre-approved evaluation methodology
In the pilot phase, the private developer is given the flexibility to identify and select the Gram Panchayat for undertaking PURA projects based on their familiarity with the area or past experience of working at the grassroots level. However, as the consent of the concerned Panchayats and no objection from the state governments are mandatory, the selection would reflect the concurrence of all the stakeholders.
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