Smart cities should have smart railway stations too. With this concept in mind the Government has plans to revamp around 400 railway stations across the country into iconic structures, as a station is a starting point of any city and attracts maximum footfalls.
Speaking at the Smart City conference here, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said, “The Government has taken steps to develop 100 cities as Smart Cities’ in the country and since stations are the beginning of any city, they will also be developed as “smart stations”.
Plan is afoot to redevelop 400 stations as new icons of cities with private participation. Habibganj station in Bhopal will be taken up first and then eight more stations will be redeveloped shortly, he said.
Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal stressed that the development of smart cities or towns would have to be done “smartly”. The smart city concept should be practical, doable and affordable, which can be deliberated, discussed and then implemented, he added.
The Centre had in January announced the first batch of 20 smart cities in 11 States and New Delhi. These 20 cities proposed an investment of Rs50,802 crore over the next five years.
He talked about importance of disposal of wastage for the smart city movement and stressed on the need for adequate dustbins at an affordable cost. Citing the example of electric distribution network, Goyal said there is a need to replace the existing meters with smart meters, which in Indian context should have tamper-proof mechanism and two-way communication.
On energy efficiencies, Goyal said the Centre is running a 770-million lED bulb programme, which will cost less than $1 billion with no Government investment.