CS reviews pace, progress of Smart City Mission, other urban development works

Srinagar, Aug 12: Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo Monday reviewed the pace and progress of Smart City Mission and other urban development works.

Holding a meeting of the Housing and Urban Development Department (H&UDD) to take stock of the progress made on different development projects including Smart City Mission (SCM), e-Buses and waste management, the chief secretary impressed upon the concerned to make concerted efforts for making expected progress on the ongoing Smart City projects in both the cities.

He asked them to enhance the monitoring on ground and push the contractors to complete these projects on time.

Regarding the e-Bus services at both Srinagar and Jammu, the chief secretary urged the concerned to ensure that these buses ferry at least 350 passengers a day covering a minimum of 200 km.

He advised them to switch to digital mode of fare collection for it is more secure and free from any chances of pilferage.

Dulloo also enjoined upon the concerned to make urban development a hallmark of our cities.

He asked them to be coherent with the changing times thereby working towards developing assets especially that of sanitation and sewage treatment for cities that fulfil its requirements for the next several decades.

Principal Secretary, Finance; Commissioner Secretary, H&UDD; Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir and Jammu; Commissioner SMC and JMC; VC, LCMA and DG Budget were also present on the occasion.

Commissioner Secretary H&UDD, Mandeep Kaur gave a detailed presentation on the status of all the ongoing and completed projects under SCM in both the cities.

She also detailed out the model and performance of the 100 e-Buses put in service in each of the two cities of J&K. The intercity and intracity routes and the passengers ferried on each of them. It was added that these buses are ferrying more than 21,000 passengers daily in Jammu and about 6,53,697 passengers here in Srinagar during the month of July this year.

She gave out the current scenario of waste management at Srinagar and Jammu with the plans of the Department to augment these further under Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0 (SBM) and City Investments to Innovate, Integrate and Sustain (CITIIS 2.0) program of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), GoI.

It was informed that the department through municipal bodies was going to initiate an integrated solid waste management for making the process scientific and sustainable.

It was also revealed that the plan includes the steps like segregation of waste, its biomethanation, establishment of sanitary landfill sites, waste to energy plants, Leachate treatment with bioremediation or bio-mining of legacy waste on modern lines.