The Queen of Hills as it is called, Shimla, was included in the list of ‘Smart City’ along-with 28 other cities in the country by Union Urban development Ministry on Friday.
The announcement was made in the third and the final list of ‘Smart City Mission’ at the National Workshop on Urban Transformation in New Delhi.
Himachal Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh congratulated the citizens of Shimla for the capital town being included in the ‘Smart City’ list and said that it was a moment to rejoice as the smart city tag would help better standardization and development of the people of the Shimla.
The Chief Minister said that the Government of Himachal Pradesh submitted its proposal to Ministry of Urban development on March 31. Smart City project would help provide better infrastructure like water supply, sewerage, storm water drainage, urban transport, e-governance, capacity building and institutional strengthening in the town, said the Chief Minister.
Singh said the proposal sent to MoUD, incorporated the better management of public transport system, parking provisions besides pedestrian’s facilities. In addition, management of storm water and natural springs, rain water harvesting tanks in forest areas, redevelopment of zonal hospital, measures to mitigate fire and other hazards could now be efficiently met, as all these points were also mentioned in the proposal. He said that added priority would be given to develop eco-tourism, adventure sports activities, alternative modes of transportation etc.
"The smart city will also enable the legal in-situ rehabilitation of around 800 families presently living in slum areas," the chief minister added..
Himachal Urban Development Minister, Sudhir Sharma, said Shimla submitted a Smart City proposal of Rs 2906 crore. Out of the total proposal, Rs 1252 crore was for re-development of lower Bazar, Sabzi Mandi, Ganj and Krishnanagar, Rs 1280 crore for retro-fitting of circular road and three transit corridors of the city, Rs 197 crore for plan-city application of traffic management and citizen security.
Apart from this, solid and waste water management, building safety, disaster mitigation and open and recreational places would also get added attention for the facility of the people of Shimla.
Sharma said he met Union Urban Development Minister, M. Venkaiah Naidu time and again to get Shimla included in list of Smart City.