Former president Dr A.P.J Abdul Kalam coined the PURA (Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas) model in 2003 on Republic Day. The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) implemented the PURA scheme in seven clusters on a pilot basis for three years (2004- 05 to 2006-07).
During the eleventh five-year plan, the MoRD relaunched the PURA scheme as a Central Government scheme with support from the Asian Development Bank and the Department of Economic Affairs. It implemented the PURA scheme under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model between the local executive bodies like the gram panchayats and private sector partners.
The scheme’s primary objective is to provide urban amenities and livelihood opportunities in rural areas and bridge the rural and urban gap. It envisages an accelerated and holistic development of the rural regions around a potential growth centre in a gram panchayat through a PPP model for improving the quality of life in rural areas.
Following are the amenities provided under the MoRD schemes:
Following are the amenities provided under the Non-MoRD schemes:
Following are the amenities provided under the add-on projects (Revenue earning and people-centric projects):
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 grant under PURA.