The Yogi government is giving shape to the State Smart city mission on the lines of the National Smart City mission to chalk out the development of seven municipal corporations under the state Smart City Mission. For this, only in the last two months of the current financial year will the exercise to get the ball rolling start. The state government has given directions to start work in all the seven cities of Ayodhya, Shahjahanpur, Mathura-Vrindavan, Gorakhpur, Meerut, Firozabad and Ghaziabad in the current financial year.
Principal Secretary Urban Development Manoj Kumar Singh has already released instructions to Divisional Commissioners and Municipal Commissioners of respective divisions. The concerned persons will have to submit a proposal for the Smart city project.
The smart cities will get Rs 50 crore in the initial phase. On the basis of this, the city development department had demanded Rs 350 crore for these seven cities in the supplementary budget itself.
Whatever amount will be spent on making these seven cities smart, the state government will do it on its own. Therefore, instructions have been given to the municipal officials of these seven cities to prepare for the work as per guidelines.
Priority work will be started first, so that the general public can benefit from it. According to sources, the municipal corporations of Ayodhya, Gorakhpur and Shahjahanpur have also sent proposals. The remaining municipal corporations are preparing the proposal, they have been asked to send it soon. Talking about smart city, the old areas of the city will be developed as heritage zones.
Free Wi-Fi facilities at major locations, electric buses to facilitate better transport, modern bus stops based on need in cities, round the clock water supply, mandatory sewer connections to all the houses in the city, densely populated Widening the streets of cities, keeping enough dustbins for garbage disposal, potting and plants for beautification along the main roads which will feature even residents living being able to enjoy the beautification of cities.
The development will be done in all cities by focusing on IT connectivity and digitization, e-governance, complete system of protection of women, children and old citizens, better system of health and education. At the same time, from multilevel parking to the safety of women, CCTV cameras etc. can be started on priority.
Meanwhile, Agra, Varanasi and Kanpur along with 17 other cities of the country will help the 20 worst performing cities in the implementation of ‘Smart City’ projects.
The 20 best performing cities of the mission will be combined with the 20 worst performing cities, thereby improving the ranking of such poorly performing cities. The central government is giving funds to make 10 cities of the state Lucknow, Prayagraj, Jhansi, Kanpur Nagar, Agra, Aligarh, Saharanpur, Bareilly, Moradabad and Varanasi as smart cities.
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