Two years on, not much on ground to show progress

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, June 24

The second anniversary of Smart City Ludhiana falls tomorrow (June 25). The only question that perturbs residents is “Where is the smart city?”

Besides residents, the board of directors associated with the smart city project for the past two years opines the same.

Sanjay Goel, one of the directors for the Ludhiana Smart City Project, said, “Two years have passed, but nothing fruitful has come out of the smart city project. It seems that by now residents seem to have compromised with circumstances and understood that smart city is a distant dream.”

But, at the same time, the Municipal Corporation (MC) Commissioner, Jaskiran Singh, said he attended a workshop on smart cities in Delhi recently. He said, “We are much better than many other cities in line. We have floated tenders and work-orders have been given. The work on signage and installing solar panels on roof-tops is expected to start from tomorrow.”

“Regarding the toilet project, we expect to start it in the next seven to10 days,” added the Municipal Commissioner.

Meanwhile, residents have expressed unhappiness over the way projects are moving.

Divit Maini, a college going student said, “It was so good to hear that the most polluted city will now become a smart city. My friends in Chandigarh and Delhi now tease me if Ludhiana has become a smart city as two years have passed. It is very disappointing.”  

He said, “There was such pomp and show when Ludhiana was included in the list of smart cities released by the Central government two years ago. We have not made any smart move in the past two years. No steps have been taken to reduce pollution, traffic congestion or make women feel safer in the city, besides provide excellent roads and basic amenities.” 

 “Residents are being hospitalised because of consumption of contaminated water. There is no value for human life here, forget about smartness,” rued Maini.

“Last year, a video conference was held by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the first anniversary of the smart city project. But, there is no such initiative till now. No interest is being taken in the project,” said Goel.