Work starts on ‘smart city’ Karnal

Parveen Arora
Tribune News Service
Karnal, October 11

Around 16 months after Karnal’s inclusion in the list, the work on the smart city project finally commenced on Thursday with a ‘hawan’ at Vikas Bhawan.

Authorities of Karnal Smart City Limited (KSCL) and KPMG, a consultancy company assigned the work by the board of directors of Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) of KSCL at around Rs 19 crore, jointly assured the presence of prominent residents in a meeting to develop 58 projects in 30 months.

Education, health, infrastructure, technology, employment, safety, security, surveillance, public utility services, public transport, beautification of Mughal Canal, smart solid waste management, beautification of Western Yamuna Canal on the pattern of Mahabharata and development of a modern market with better mobility are the key priorities under this project.

Rajiv Mehta, Commissioner, Karnal Municipal Corporation-cum-CEO of KSCL, said “We have signed an agreement with the directors of KPMG and Louis Berger, a partner company of KPMG, today and have kept Clock Tower Chowk, Kunjpura Road, Bus Stand, Model Town and Mughal Canal market under area-based development, where we will develop group housing, commercial, industrial, institutional and business related activities,” he added.

Sameer Jain, director of KPMG, said “We have identified some key areas, including surveillance, security, public utilities like power, traffic, water, environment and others.”

Besides, smart classrooms will also be developed in government schools, in which students would be taught with the help of modern gadgets. Training would also be imparted to teachers for the same, he stated.

The Mughal Canal will be re-beautified to make the market congestion free and provide parking facility, Jain added.

Kshitish V Nadgauda, senior vice-president and managing director (Asia), Louis Beger, said, “Our focus is also on public transport facility. Apart from the existing system, we will develop the culture of e-vehicles and public bicycle sharing system.”