PURA Scheme: Launch Year, Objectives, Features, Amenities Provided

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.

Objective of PURA Scheme

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.

Features of the PURA Scheme

• The scheme’s objectives are achieved under a PPP framework between gram panchayats and private sector partners with the support of the state governments. 
• The central sector scheme of PURA will source the core funding and be complemented by additional support through the convergences of various Central Government schemes. 
• The private sector brings on board its share of investment apart from operational expertise.
• The private sector implements and manages the scheme on considerations of economic viability but is designed to be fully aligned with the overall objective of rural development. 

Amenities Provided Under PURA Scheme

Following are the amenities provided under the MoRD schemes:

• Water and sewerage.
• Construction and maintenance of village streets
• Drainage 
• Solid waste management
• Skill development 
• Development of economic activities

Following are the amenities provided under the Non-MoRD schemes:

• Village street lighting.
• Telecom.
• Electricity.

Following are the amenities provided under the add-on projects (Revenue earning and people-centric projects):

• Village-linked tourism.
• Integrated rural hub and rural market. 
• Agri – common services centre, warehousing, etc. 
• Any other rural-economy-based project.

PURA Scheme Implementation 

The private developers’ selection is made through a transparent, competitive technical bidding process with evaluation criteria and rigorous qualifications. These 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 then 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.