A Rs2,520-crore plan, majorly envisaging rejuvenation of ghats, infrastructure and e-governance is afoot to transform Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Parliamentary constituency Varanasi, the iconic city, into a “Smart City”.
The ancient city, which is plagued with several bottlenecks like bad roads, traffic congestion, an age-old drainage system and poor sanitation, finally made its way into the third list of 27 Smart Cities.
“The plan seeks to leverage the city’s rich cultural heritage by enhancing the city’s presentation and appeal (suramya) to take full advantage of its tourism potential. It also aims to ensure socio-economic growth (samunnat) for increased employment opportunities, ensure security (surakshit), enable hassle- free movement (sanyojit), cleanliness (nirmal) and integrated, technology-based governance (ekikrit) for simple, modern, accountable, responsive and transparent services,” said a senior official from the Urban Development Ministry.
Varanasi, which gets 65 lakh tourists every year, had fared badly in the first list when it was ranked 96 on the list of 97 cities that competed for inclusion under the Centre’s flagship Smart City Mission.
“After considering nine locations of the city and based on voting by over four lakh citizens, the Old City with Ganga as its pivot, spread over an area of 1,389 acres and Kashi Vishwanath Temple defining the awe, ethos, beliefs and the preferences of the masses, emerged as the forerunner for Area-Based Development,” the UP’s Government Smart City proposal stated.
The Old City area accounts for 7 per cent of the city’s geographical area, 31 per cent of the population and 38 per cent of the city’s GDP.
With citizens voting for improving city governance and quick urban mobility as the two priorities for technology-based pan-city solutions, the Varanasi Municipal Corporation has proposed Optic Fibre Connectivity across the city, online payment of utility bills and service delivery, Intelligent Traffic Management Systems.
This includes GPS on buses, e-booking of boats, guides, taxis etc, CCTV-based monitoring and surveillance, e-Suvidha centres, information delivery on mobile Apps, smart card for all services among others, as per the plan.
The Urban Development Ministry official said as per the proposal received from the State, Rs 1,659 crore will be spent on area development and Rs 618 crore on pan-city solutions.
The rest includes technical and administrative expenses and other contingencies.
Under retrofitting of the area chosen for development through necessary interventions, works proposed to be taken relate to rejuvenation of ghats and temples, ensuring assured supply of power and water, waste management, improvement of waterways, development of 11 parks, smart multi-level parking spaces, cultural-cum-convention centre, Kahsi Kala Dhaam, Town Hall and Shilpi Haat.
The other works planned to be taken up are Centre of Excellence with Hall of Fame, light and sound show, night bazaar, rejuvenation of water bodies, pedestrian pathways, non-motorised transport, energy efficient street lighting etc, underground cabling, improved signboards etc.
A Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model has been proposed for smart multi-level parking spaces, upgradation of stadium, Internet Modal Hubs, battery-operated buses, e-auto for last mile connectivity etc.
In addition to the support from the Central and State Government, costs of Varanasi’s Smart City proposal are to be met with resources of Rs 1,290 crore through convergence of various schemes, Rs 505 crore from the corporation’s own resources and Rs 140 crore from PPP, said the official.
Once the plan is put in place, the State Government hopes to increase tourist inflow by over 25 per cent and increase in revenue generation from international tourists and pilgrims by over 30 per cent.
Namami Gange put on fast-track
To fast track the implementation of its ambitious Namami Gange programme, the Centre on Wednesday decided to replace National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) with National Council for River Ganga, to be headed by the Prime Minister. The Cabinet also decided to turn National Mission for Clean Ganga — the implementation wing of the NGRBA — into an authority from society giving it teeth to take action against those polluting the holy river.