With UP cities failing to make it to the list of top 10 cleanest cities of India, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav government has prepared a blue print to clean the cities by building new infrastructure in Allahabad and lucknow.
A senior official told ‘The Pioneer’ that the UP government has earmarked over Rs 1900 crore for sprucing up the cities. This includes Rs 600 crore for Swachcha Bharat Mission, Rs 600 crore for Small City Mission and Rs 700 crore for Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT).
Recently, Union Urban Development minister Vaknaih Naidu had released a list of top 75 cleanest cities of India. While seven cities from UP figurd in the list, Allahabad emerged as the cleanest in the state with a national ranking of 22. lucknow trailed behind and came a disappointing 28th.
“In fact, UP has done very well in the last one yea and the cleanliness guidelines have been followed in letter and spirit. Allahabad was in 55th position in 2014-15, but jumped onto the 22nd slot in just a year. We got the beating in implementation of projects including Solid Waste Disposal, Building urban infrastructure and controlling illegal colonies,” said senior official Amritesh Sharma.
He said that the government is serious in initiating projects that would take care of urban sewage, drinking water programmes and strengthen the drainage system. “The government has earmarked Rs 250 crore for construction of elevated approach roads and flyovers in Allahabad which will help in decongesting the city,” he said.
The government will spend Rs 200 crore for Adarsh Nagar Yojana, Rs 50 crore for Urban Sewarage Scheme, Rs 335 crore for Urban Drinking Water programmes, Rs 130 crore for Urban Road improvement and Rs 140 crore for Urban Water Drainage system.
The Swachch Bharat Mission has made many mandatory clauses and points are given according to achieving those clauses. The focus is on sewage disposal and proper drainage. The city transportation and infrastructure in ‘bastis’ (shanties) have also found a mention in that ranking system.
“The approved slums in urban areas will have CC roads, inter-locking tiles, proper drains and other facilities. The government has earmarked over Rs 385 for sprucing up these shanties,” Sharma said.
He said that the Akhilesh Yadav government will also start the Naya Savera Nagar Vikas Yojana to improve infrastructure in select cities for which an arrangement of Rs 400 crore has been made.
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