New dawn: Smart City board gives nod to Rs700-crore works

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 31

The Board of Directors of Chandigarh Smart City Limited (CSCL) approved projects worth over Rs 700 crore for the city today and floated tenders for their implementation.

The meeting was chaired by UT Adviser Manoj Kumar Parida. The projects for which tenders were floated include smart water meters (13,700) at an estimated cost of Rs 24 crore, public bike sharing system, consisting of 5,000 bikes at 617 docking locations in Chandigarh, at an estimated cost of Rs 20 crore, setting up of an animal carcass incineration plant at Dadu Majra at an estimated cost of Rs 5 crore, 24X7 water supply in Mani Majra at an estimated cost of Rs 140 crore and upgrade of five sewage treatment plants (STPs) and construction of a new STP at an estimated cost of Rs 511 crore.

Arun Kumar Gupta, Principal Secretary (Home), Ajoy Kumar Sinha, Finance Secretary, KK Yadav, CEO, CSCL-cum-Commissioner, MC, Mandeep Singh Brar, Deputy Commissioner, Sumit Gakhar, Under Secretary, Ministry of Urban and Housing Affairs, Manoj Kumar Bansal, Chief Engineer, MC, and Kapil Setia, Chief Architect, UT, were among those attended the meeting

Integrated Command & Control Centre

The Board of Directors also decided to set up an Integrated Command and Control Centre, including artificial intelligence, surveillance cameras and e-governance, at an estimated cost of Rs 199 crore.

Under the project, the safety of citizens will be ensured through 943 surveillance cameras to be located at various places such as government schools, hospitals, parks, community centers and at 288 locations for wateworks and tubewells.

To effectively manage traffic and traffic lights at major junctions, automatic number plate recognition, red light violation detection and overspeed detection system cameras will also be provided at 40 locations in the city. The traffic lights at 40 important junctions shall also be monitored with the adaptive traffic control system. In case of a traffic violation, an e-challan will automatically be generated through these cameras. The facility for e-payment will also be provided for the ease of the people. All 20 entry/exit points in the city will also be monitored through these cameras.

Detailed project report on Dadu Majra waste

A detailed project report on mining of waste and recovery of land at the Dadu Majra dumping ground at an estimated cost of Rs 40 crore was approved by the Chairman. At present, residents of Dadu Majra are facing a lot of difficulty due to foul smell and threat of diseases from the garbage at the dumping ground. Under this project, nearly 16 acers of “material waste” will be processed using the latest bio-mining method within two years. 

The Adviser ordered the implementation of the project in such a manner that local residents do not face any kind of noise or air/dust pollution.

Recycled water network 

A detailed project report of the SCADA system for recycled water network at an estimated cost of Rs 5 crore was approved by the Chairman. 

A lot of complaints  have been received regarding smell from tertiary treated water from residents. In order to monitor the quality and adequate supply of tertiary treated water, sensors will be installed at underground storage reservoirs as well as at the end point of the main line supplying tertiary treated water to houses. 

Remote terminal units will be installed at 21 points to convey real time parameters such as pressure, flow and chlorine to the control room of the monitoring centre in Sector 28-A.

Carcass disposal centre to come up 

A preliminary design report for setting up an animal carcass disposal facility at Dadu Majra at an estimated cost of Rs 5 crore was also approved by the board. The Chairman was apprised of the fact that on an average, 10 large and 30 small animals are disposed of in an arbitrary manner daily in the city, which creates foul smell. In this plant, dead animals will be incinerated using PNG/LPG in a hygienic and environmental-friendly way. 

Public toilets to be refurbished  

Refurbishment of public toilet blocks in Sector 17, 22, 35 and 43 in the city will be carried out under the Smart City Mission at an estimated cost of Rs 6 crore. These toilets will be provided with premium facilities such as an ATM, a water ATM, bay shops and provision for rooftop solar plant for power supply. The toilets will have separate facilities for men, women and differently abled persons. Proper hygiene will be ensured.