Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, June 25: With Jammu and Kashmir today officially getting only one smart city as against four proposed by the State Government, Union Minister for Housing and Urban Development Department M Vankaiah Naidu has asked the Government to submit proposal for the smart cities as per the parameters laid down by Government of India and a final decision on which city will be developed as smart city would vest with them (the Union Government).
Official sources told the Excelsior that Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh, Incharge Housing and Urban Development Department, who represented Jammu and Kashmir in the national level conference on smart cities and AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation) in New Delhi today, which was opened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Vankaiah Naidu and will conclude tomorrow, wanted Jammu and Kashmir to have four smart cities as proposed during the Governor’s Rule and endorsed by the State Government.
However, Naidu told Dr Singh that the Union Government has laid down well knit criteria for giving number of smart cities to the State under which Jammu and Kashmir qualified for one smart city only along with New Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Kerala, Goa, Mizoram and Andaman & Nicobar.
However, Naidu assured the Deputy Chief Minister that out of 500 towns to be developed by the Union Government under AMRUT, Jammu and Kashmir will get due quota. The quota of towns to be developed under AMRUT was yet to be announced for each State.
The Centre has taken total population of States, number of statutory towns, geographic pattern, need for vision and city development strategy, progress under Swachh Bharat Mission, timely payment of salaries to Municipal staff, information and grievance redressal mechanism, e-newsletter, self financing ability, institutional systems and capacities, existing service levels and committed plan of action for three years, past track record in implementing reforms, quality of vision document, e-governance, online delivery system, urban reforms like recovery of property, water and power taxes, Master Plans, including for sanitation, mobility, land use, digital connectivity, disaster risk management and climate change, policy reforms, fixed tenures for Mayors and Municipal officials, improving revenues through 100 per cent collection of taxes and user charges and credit rating of urban local bodies.
According to sources, the Centre will be releasing Rs 25 lakh for Jammu and Kashmir in the next few days for preparation of Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the cities, one of which it proposed to develop as smart city. The State can propose any number of cities fulfilling the criteria laid down by the Centre and the Union Ministry for Housing and Urban Development will pick one of them for developing as smart city (strictly on the basis of guidelines).
“After all 100 smart cities are identified throughout the country, there will be a competition among them as the Centre would select only 20 cities for development as smart cities during current financial year of 2015-16 followed by 40 cities each in 2016-17 and 2017-18,” sources said.
Simultaneously, the Centre today proposed development of 500 towns under AMRUT scheme. However, the Centre was yet to come out with detailed guidelines about the towns to be taken up for development under this scheme. One of the mandatory guideline is that the town should have population of one lakh or above.
“The Centre would shortly allocated towns to every States like smart cities and then invite names from the States as per the guidelines, which would be laid shortly under the AMRUT scheme,” sources said, adding the Centre would empower Municipalities for development of towns.
It may be mentioned here that Uttar Pradesh has walked away with maximum number of 13 smart cities followed by Tamil Nadu 12, Maharashtra 10, Madhya Pradesh 7, Gujarat 6, West Bengal and Rajasthan 4 each, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab 3 each, Orissa, Haryana, Telangana and Chattisgarh 2 each.
Excelsior had today exclusively reported that the Centre has allotted only one smart city to Jammu and Kashmir as against four proposed by the State Government.
Jammu and Kashmir had proposed construction of four smart cities in January this year during Governor’s Rule when the Centre had invited proposals from the State. Governor NN Vohra had proposed Jammu, Srinagar, Katra and Anantnag for construction of smart cities.
After PDP-BJP Government took over reigns of affairs in the State on March 1, it upheld the proposal sent to the Centre on smart cities. While Jammu and Srinagar have 10 lakh population, mandatory for the smart cities, Katra and Anantnag didn’t fulfill this criteria and the State Government had sought relaxation (in the criteria) on the ground that both served as pilgrim towns and base camps for Mata Vaishno Devi ji and Shri Amarnath ji shrines.
However, sources admitted that the State has been caught in dilemma following Centre’s decision to club Jammu and Kashmir with small States and allot only one smart city to it in the first phase.
In proposed Smart Cities, in case of heavy traffics, routes will be automatically diverted while to reduce traffic on roads, there will be improvement in existing public transport system.
In case of accident or fault in a vehicle, people will get help in just one call. They will get help through CCTV too. On the lines of London’s Smart Traffic System, people will get the information regarding heavy traffic in advance. At present, Bangalore has this system, sources said.
Another prime feature of Smart City projects will be Data Centre. It will hold information about every Smart City. On the lines of Paris, the Smart City will have Face Identification System in place to catch criminals. The photos and DNA of criminals and suspects will be entered in computer and information will also be shared with other cities. After the scanning face, an alert message will be sent to police control room and this message will be forwarded to nearest police station so that criminals can be nabbed easily. This system will help in controlling the crime.
There will be an integrated control room for crime, health, services and traffic for better co-ordination to provide quick help to people.
The smart cities will get round-the-clock water and power supply and would have world class roads and telecom facilities. It will have single window system for the trade and industry and all documents have to be delivered to the people within a week’s time.
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