Bhubaneswar: Former Secretary of Urban Development Department and present Director General of State Administrative Training Institute G Mathi Vathanan has been nominated to head the working group on Capacity Building at a local level for urban local bodies across the country.
To strengthen and energise urban governance, the Central government has formed Working Groups under broad areas of reforms at the political level, administrative level, the re-defining role of parastatals, transition systems for the rural-urban continuum and capacity building at the local level.
A release issued by the Central government on Tuesday noted that the expected deliverables after the submission of the report would be a model municipal act, recruitment rules, HR policy, framework for transition systems for the rural-urban continuum, scheme formulation, etc., which may help facilitate state governments and urban local bodies in carrying forward the work related to improving urban governance.
The Anchor Institute for the above-mentioned Working Groups shall be the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), New Delhi. Knowledge partners have also been enlisted. The Working Groups shall submit its deliverables/final report to this Ministry within three months of their formation.
Mr Mathi Vathanan, who belongs to the Odisha cadre, excelled in urban development during a long stint as secretary of the department before he was shifted to the training institute after the change of government in the state.
Evidently, his performance as Urban Development secretary has been recognized by the centre which nominated him to chair one of the important working groups.