The State Government has sanctioned Rs 15.67 crore for Raipur Municipal Corporation (RMC) from its infrastructure fund.
Urban Administration and Development Department has issued orders in the context. This sanctioned amount will be utilized for construction of cc-road, drains, WMMBT road, RRC drains and lane concretization.
It is noteworthy that State Government has sanctioned Rs19.60 lakh for construction of cc-road construction in ward-1, Rs33.54 lakh for cc-road and drains construction in ward-2, Rs83.32 lakh for five construction works of cc-road and drains construction in ward-3, Rs2 crore 68 lakh for 10 works of cc-road and drains construction in ward-4, Rs59.16 lakh for 2 works of cc-road construction in ward-5,Rs 1.56 crores for seven works of cc-road and drains construction in ward-26, Rs2.03 crores for seven construction works of cc-road and drains construction in ward-27, Rs62.63 lakh for 6 works of cc-road construction in ward-28, Rs1 crore 11 lakh for 12 works of cc-road and drains construction in ward-45,Rs one crore 43 lakh 35 thousand for 12 works of cc-road and drains construction in ward-46,Rs one crore 74 lakh 20 thousand for 8 works of cc-road and drains construction in ward-51, and Rs3 crore 75 lakh 28 thousand have been sanctioned for 10 construction works of cc-road, WMMBT Road, drains and bridge.
The government had earlier approved Rsv13 crore for 89 developmental works to be undertaken by Raipur Municipal Corporation (RMC).
Notably, a sum of Rs10 crore has been approved by the State government for various wards of RMC including drain construction, road widening, electrification and pipeline extension, according to an official press release Besides these, around Rs2.50 crore has been approved for setting up a world class gym in the vacant space at International Swimming Pool at GE road besides other facilities.
It may be recalled that none of the Chhattisgarh cities had found a place among first 20 winners of the Centre’s ‘Smart City Challenge Competition’ for receiving funds during the current financial year.
Notably , Raipur and Bilaspur are among the 100 cities chosen by the Centre to be developed as ‘Smart Cities’.
The Central government in January this year announced the 20 winners of the Smart City Challenge competition for receiving funds during the current financial year.
Announcing the cities, Union Minister of Urban Development M.Venkaiah Naidu had stated that the winners were from 11 States and the Union Territory of Delhi and the selection was totally objective and transparent based on standardized processes.
He further said that Smart City Mission marks a paradigm shift towards urban development in the country since it is based on ‘bottom up’ approach with the involvement of citizens in formulation of city vision and smart city plans and the Urban local Bodies and State Governments piloting the mission with little say for the Ministry of Urban Development.
Naidu also observed that it was for the first time in the country and even in the world that investments in urban sector are being made based on competition based selection of cities.
Informing that 1.52 crore citizens participated in shaping smart city plans of 97 cities and towns in the first round of competition, Naidu said that this enthusiastic participation of people is a major positive outcome.
Three cities from Madhya Pradesh, two each from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan and one each from the remaining five made it to the winning list.
The Minister informed that 23 States and UTs who could not make to the list of winners will be given an opportunity to participate in a ‘fast track competition’. Each top ranking city form these left out states can upgrade their smart city proposals and submit them by April 15.
The 20 smart cities announced by the Union Minister were : Pune, Jaipur, Surat, Kochi , Ahmedabad, Jabalpur, Visakhapatnam, Solapur, Davannagere, Indore, New Delhi Municipal Council , Coimbatore, Kakinada, Belagavi, Udaipur, Guwahati, Chennai, ludhiana and Bhopal.
Of these 20 cities accounting for a total population of 3.54 crore, 5 have population below 5 lakhs each, 4 in the range of 5-10 lakhs, 6 in between 10-25 lakhs, 4 between 25 and 50 lakhs and only Ahmedabad has above 50 lakhs.
Notably, Bilaspur had formulated ‘Smart City Vision Statement’ of emerging as a ‘cultural capital’ based on citizen consultations as required under the Mission Guidelines of each of the Mission Cities under Central government’s 'Smart City Mission'.
The Smart City Plans for 95 cities received in the Union Ministry of Urban Development have thrown up a variety of vision statements ranging from becoming clean and green to being a multi-functional tribal hub.