Releasing its report on Dehradun’s poor performance in Climate Smart Cities Assessment Framework (CSCAF), the Social Development for Communities (SDC) Foundation has appealed to all political parties to include the issue of sustainable urbanisation in their manifestos ahead of the 2022 assembly elections for a climate-sensitive approach to urban planning and development in the state. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) developed CSCAF in association with the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) to provide a roadmap for cities towards mainstreaming climate actions within existing and future projects and policies. A total of 126 cities including 100 Smart Cities, capital cities and other cities were part of the assessment and Dehradun was the only city from Uttarakhand. The cities were given star ratings on the basis of the evaluation based on five parameters including 28 indicators- Urban Planning, Green Cover and Biodiversity, Mobility and Air Quality, Water Management, Energy and Green Buildings and Waste Management. Dehradun received one star in the first three parameters, two stars in the fourth one and three stars in the waste management category. According to the SDC’s report, not a single city out of 126 cities got an overall five-star ranking in this assessment. Only nine cities including Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat, Visakhapatnam and Indore got the four-star ranking while 22 cities got a three-star ranking. Dehradun and the other 63 cities got only a two-star ranking while the remaining 31 cities attained only a one-star ranking.
Social activist and founder of SDC Foundation, Anoop Nautiyal said that Dehradun got two stars in the overall ranking that indicates we need to improve and work on climate issues in Dehradun and in the other cities of the state. He said that there is a need for coordination and management to ensure holistic planning, execution and monitoring of climate actions. He said that local authorities should work under government schemes and initiatives like the Rooftop Solar programme, Solar Net Metering and Grid Connected Wind-Solar Hybrid Power Projects to promote renewable energy at the local level. Segregation of dry and wet waste should also be promoted through awareness campaigns to attain 100 per cent recycling and reuse of waste. Authorities concerned should also focus on public bicycle sharing and promote Non-Motorised Transport (NMT) infrastructure in the city. Nautiyal said that it has become quite crucial in the current times to adopt sustainable urbanisation by working on the aforementioned points and his foundation will send this report to the political parties too with the appeal to include such issues in their manifestos.
