Govt plans to develop Doon as smart city

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, September 23

Forest Minister Dinesh Agarwal has said the state government is planning to develop Dehradun as smart city after it was not considered in the list of smart city issued by the Union government recently. Chief Minister Harish Rawat will chair a meeting of Cabinet ministers and top bureaucrats to look for avenues to develop Dehradun as smart city soon.

Agarwal, while addressing mediapersons here today, termed non-inclusion of Dehradun in the smart city project was politically motivated as the state Assembly elections are due in January next year. He said Union Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu’s statement that Dehradun was not included in the list of smart cities as it is flood and disaster prone was absurd and politically motivated.

Agarwal said the rejection of the claim of Dehradun was the failure of the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) as the smart city proposal was directly sent to the Union Government after it was amended three times by the nodal agency and the DMC.

Agarwal criticised Mayor Vinod Chamoli for not convening meetings of villagers who were protesting against the trenching ground at Sheeshambara though the Chief Minister had asked the DMC to do so.

Rajpur MLA Rajkumar flayed the DMC over rising cases of dengue in different areas in the city. He said dengue cases were being reported from rural areas of the state. The DMC should draft a concrete policy to clean choked drains and ensure best cleanliness in different areas of the city.