Committee to take final call today

Kuldeep Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, March 17

A high-powered committee on the smart city mission, chaired by Chief Secretary VC Pharka and a special House of the Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC), will take a final call on the draft proposal for the smart city mission tomorrow.

Mayor Sanjay Chauhan, while commenting on the draft proposal, said “The residents participated in the whole exercise on a massive scale. They want a smart city that is livable, clean and green, provides 24x7 quality water supply, has ducts to bury the overhead electric cables and water pipelines and provides a time-bound hassle-free transport. They want a city that is safe for women and children and pedestrians”.

The smart city project proposes to redevelop the shanty of Krishna Nagar and the ramshackle Lower Bazaar and Ganj areas into new smart localities in a phase-wise plan.

“The residents want to bury overhead transmission lines and cables and the water pipelines and retrofit the aged and defunct infrastructure to give the city a smart look,” Chauhan stated.

They want smart transport system, pedestrian paths, escalators to speed up mobility in the city. “We have convened a special House session tomorrow to pass the draft proposal,” he added.

The SMC had engaged over 80,000 residents, various NGOs, public representatives and residents’ welfare associations to prepare the draft proposal under the supervision of Mayor Sanjay Chauhan, Deputy Mayor Tikender Panwar, mission in charge Prashant Sirkeck and SMC consultant.

Sirkeck said after the Municipal House passes the draft proposal, a high-powered committee would take the final call on it. “We will submit it to the Ministry for stage-II competition,” he added.

He said they had inducted a wide spectrum of suggestions from all stakeholders in the city with direct engagement with them.

The smart city mission invited residents through social media, including Youtube, Facebook and Mygov.in web portal showcasing citizens engagement. It also launched an interactive website (missionsmartshimla.com, shimlamc.org), Facebook account/page (Smart city Shimla), twitter account (@smartshimla), emails (missionsmartshimla@gmail.com) and MyGov.in web portal.