New Delhi, March 12 A parliamentary panel has recommended that the government set up a new high-level expert committee to assess infrastructure, financing, governance, and capacity requirements in line with the vision of 'Viksit Bharat 2047'.
According to the panel, this will ensure coordinated planning, fiscal preparedness, and balanced development across metropolitan, Tier-II, and Tier-III cities in line with the vision.
The Standing Committee on Housing and Urban Affairs (HUA), chaired by Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy, presented its report on demands for grants (2026-27) in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
In its report, the committee noted that while the ministry's several flagship schemes are being implemented and financing support mechanisms have been introduced, these interventions are largely scheme-driven and sector-specific.
The last comprehensive and consolidated assessment of urban infrastructure requirements was undertaken by the high-powered expert committee (HPEC) in 2011, with projections only up to 2031.
No updated national-level assessment has been undertaken to estimate infrastructure demand, financing gaps, and institutional requirements beyond 2030 in a holistic manner, it stated.
According to the report, the parliamentary panel recommended the HUA Ministry to constitute a new high-level expert committee to comprehensively assess India's urban infrastructure requirements, financing needs, governance reforms, and capacity-building imperatives up to 2047, aligned with the vision of 'Viksit Bharat 2047'.
A forward-looking and evidence-based roadmap would enable coordinated planning, better fiscal preparedness, and balanced urban development across metropolitan, Tier-II, and Tier-III cities, it said.
The panel, however, observed that despite rising urbanization and the increasing demand for urban services, the HUA's ministry's share in the central budget has declined to 1.60 per cent in 2026-27, the lowest in the last five years.
It also noted the systemic mismatch between projections and the actual utilization capacity, given the persistent gaps between the projected outlay and the approved allocations, i.e. 22.82 per cent in 2022-23, 11.52 per cent in 2023-24, and 17.25 per cent in 2024-25, except in 2025-26.
In the report, the committee also observed that several schemes from the HUA Ministry operate in related areas such as affordable housing (ARHCs under PMAY-U, Industrial Housing/PM-NIWAS), sewage and wastewater management (AMRUT, SBM-Urban), solid waste and circular economy (SBM-U, CITIIS 2.0, UCF) and urban livelihoods (PM SVANidhi, DAY-NULM) with different objectives.
However, their operational domains often overlap at the level of states/Union Territories (UTs) and urban local bodies (ULBs), creating risks of duplication, fragmented implementation, and inefficient use of resources.
In view of this, it recommended that the ministry prepare and notify a comprehensive convergence framework clearly delineating the scope, target beneficiaries, components, and funding patterns of each urban sector scheme to prevent overlap, promote complementarities, and ensure optimal utilization of public resources.
