Guwahati: Arunachal Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein has called for urban development policies and funding norms tailored to the Northeast’s difficult terrain, scattered settlements and high infrastructure costs, stressing that conventional population-based parameters fail to capture the region’s civic needs.
Addressing a regional workshop on the implementation of 16th Finance Commission grants for Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) at the Golden Jubilee Banquet Hall in Itanagar on Wednesday, Mein said municipalities in the region faced distinct challenges, including limited revenue, high transportation costs and frequent natural disasters such as landslides, flash floods, earthquakes and soil erosion.
The one-day workshop brought together representatives from six Northeastern states – Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim and Tripura to discuss the effective utilization of Finance Commission grants and ways to improve municipal governance and civic services.
Referring to the 16th Finance Commission award period of 2026-27 to 2030-31, Mein said around ?7.91 lakh crore had been recommended for Rural and Urban Local Bodies over five years, including approximately ?3.56 lakh crore for ULBs. He described the allocation as a major opportunity to strengthen municipal institutions, upgrade civic infrastructure and improve essential services.
He stressed that municipalities must move beyond functioning as mere implementing agencies and evolve into professionally managed institutions capable of planning, financing, executing and maintaining their own development projects.
For this, he called for timely budget preparation, sound accounting practices, regular audits, transparency and stronger financial controls. He also advocated improving municipal revenue through better property tax collection, rationalised user charges, efficient revenue administration and digitisation.
Highlighting priority areas, Mein said urban bodies needed to focus on scientific solid waste management, drinking water supply, drainage, sanitation, wastewater treatment, urban roads, street lighting and climate-resilient infrastructure. He also stressed the need to address shortages of qualified engineers, technical personnel, financial experts and administrative staff.
Citing Arunachal Pradesh’s geographical challenges, Mein said the State had 47 notified towns, including 27 Census Towns, spread across 83,743 square kilometres. The dispersed settlements and difficult terrain made both the creation and maintenance of urban infrastructure particularly expensive and challenging.
He reaffirmed the State Government’s commitment to strengthening municipal institutions, improving sanitation and waste management, expanding basic civic amenities and promoting planned, sustainable urban settlements.
Mein called on participating States to prepare five-year implementation roadmaps with clearly defined priorities and measurable targets. He also urged them to adopt project designs and cost estimates that reflected local geographical conditions and ensure that Finance Commission grants were effectively dovetailed with existing Central and State schemes, including Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U) and AMRUT, without duplication of expenditure.
He sought continued technical guidance, capacity-building and handholding support from the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, particularly for smaller States and municipalities during the initial years of implementation.
Emphasising the need to measure outcomes rather than expenditure, Mein said the success of the 16th Finance Commission would depend not merely on the funds allocated or released, but on the quality of infrastructure created, the strength of municipal institutions, the sustainability of civic services and improvements in citizens’ quality of life.
He thanked the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs for bringing the North-Eastern States together on a common platform and called for coordinated efforts to build sustainable, resilient and citizen-centric urban centres across the region.
The workshop was attended by Arunachal Pradesh Urban Affairs Minister Balo Raja; Gopal Prasad, Economic Advisor, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs; Sahid Iqbal Choudhary, Commissioner, Department of Urban Affairs, Arunachal Pradesh; Sunil Kumar, Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs; Hano Takka, Director, Urban Local Bodies, Arunachal Pradesh; delegates from the six participating States, resource persons, senior government officials and representatives of Janaagraha.