Long way to go to get that Smart City tag

Shivani Bhakoo

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Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, July 2

Residents of the city, Municipal Corporation officials, District Administration and a few NGOs celebrated the first anniversary of “Smart City” on June 25, but given by the pace of ‘developments’, it seems there is a long way to go.

Reason: A Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is yet to be appointed by the state government for the purpose. Not only this, the state government’s Punjab Municipal Infrastructure Development Company (PMIDC) is yet to appoint a consultant/s to prepare the detailed project report (DPR). As if this was not enough, the state government has not transferred funds to put the matching grant to start the project so far. Till date, the ‘smart city’ remains on papers and going with the pace of work at the state government level, it seems the project will not start before another six months. 

An MC official disclosed that as far as authorities in the city are concerned, some or the other activity is being held for residents so that spirit does not die. “But practically, the project depends on the state government. The consultants, transfer of funds or appointment of a CEO are important issues for which decisions are yet to be taken at the Deputy Chief Minister level. Since the preparations are going on for almost a year now, the MC authorities celebrated its first anniversary recently. It was an attempt to involve the masses so that residents’ interest remains,” said the official. 

It is learnt that the MC Commissioner Ghanshyam Thori has written a letter to Additional Chief Secretary Satish Chandra to appoint consultants to get the matters fast-tracked. When asked, Thori admitted that he had written to the Additional Chief Secretary as well as the Deputy Chief Minister office to finalise the consultants so that DPR could be prepared and tenders could be floated to give the project a practical shape.

Baljit Kumar, a hopeful shopkeeper in Ghumar Mandi, said he came to know that more development would take place in the area under the project. “We are waiting for things to happen on ground. This is one of the posh areas of the city, which needs proper planning. Presently, the entire market is in a mess. Encroachments, traffic chaos, water-logging during rains are major problems in the area, which need to be resolved. We are daily reading in papers that Ludhiana would soon be ‘smart’, but no ground work has been started by authorities so far. We hope our dreams — about making Ludhiana a Smart City— won’t be shattered.”