The state government and Visakhapatnam City bagged three awards for providing best "Basic Services for the Urban Poor" (BSUP).
Visakhapatnam was the recipient of the Best City award for the implementation of BSUP for 2012-13, and the Best City award in effective enforcement of three pro-poor reforms.
The GVMC had taken up the construction of 14,203 housing units for the poor, completed 14,139 and handed over 12,348 to beneficiaries. The state government received the SJSRY award for providing amenities to the urban poor.
Municipal Administration minister M Maheedhar Reddy, Principal Secretary Sameer Sarma, GVMC Commissioner M V V Satyanarayana and senior IAS Officer Anitha Rajendran called on Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Monday, and presented to him the 3 awards received from the government of India.
The Awards were given for pro-poor reforms - that included earmarking at least 20-25% of developed land in all housing programmes both in public and private agencies for EWS LIG category with a system of cross-subsidisation; and internal earmarking within the local body budget for basic services to the urban poor. (INN)