Jalandhar derails from Smart City race

Rachna Khaira

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Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 28

With only 3.4 per cent city residents voting in the citizen poll phase for the smart city mission, Jalandhar could not appear in the list of top 20 winners announced by the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) in the first phase of the smart city mission.

With around 16 points specifically kept for the citizen’s participation, Jalandhar’s proposal to develop the city as a sport hub could not appease the MoUD as it was found to be without a pulse of city residents.

Low citizen poll took us behind: Mayor

Mayor Sunil Jyoti, accepting the slip, said though the civic body along with consultants had made tremendous efforts to create a “buzz” amongst the city residents to come out and vote for their claim to be included in the top 20 smart city list, only 3.4 per cent of the 9 lakh urban population came forward.

“Even those too majorly included students whom we visited in their respective institutions,” said Sunil Jyoti.

We were not taken into confidence: SAD

On the contrary, senior deputy mayor Kamaljit Bhatia, while accusing Mayor Sunil Jyoti of non-cooperation, has claimed that the Mayor, along with Municipal Commissioner Gurpreet Sigh Khehra, has worked in solace and did not even hold discussions with its alliance partner.

“The Mayor did not send projections of the smart city meetings to Deputy Chief Minister and also did not hold any meeting before the preparation of the vision document,” said Bhatia.

He said due to the lack of coordination between the two partners, adequate awareness could not be created amongst the people about the project.

Castle built in air exploded: Congress

Lambasting the Mayor, Jagdish Raja, Congress leader and head of the Opposition, said due to the arrogant attitude of the Mayor, the castle by him in the air has exploded and has only brought disappointment among city residents.

Though Mayor Sunil Jyoti had tried to initiate diplomatic talks over dinner between the ruling alliance partner the Shiromani Akali Dal and Congress by inviting them at a five-star hotel before submitting the vision document to the MoUD, both parties had boycotted the invitation extended by the Mayor. Only a handful of the BJP councilors, along with three councillors from the SAD, reached the venue to watch the presentation on the smart city proposal.

Reasons for low turnout by citizens

• Fear of high taxes on the lines of Swachh Bharat Tax
• Concept being new fails to attract the people who are not used to participation in any of the policy making event
• Civic bodies fail to create adequate awareness amongst the people due to the shortage of funds. Though the MoUDhad allocated Rs 2 crore to each of the 98 cities shortlisted for the project, it failed to release any amount so far to the cash-starved civic bodies in Punjab
• Technical challenges like shallow broadband penetration is a major cause of concern to the IT companies and other investors.
• Due to the BJP-SAD alliance in the state, a majority of the civic bodies in the state report lack of coordination between various departments.

MayorSpeak

Mayor Sunil Jyoti said the dream to turn the city into a smart one would not be possible without the public support. He said for getting the financial assistance of Rs 500 crore every year from the Union Government, the civic body, too, has to contribute the same amount every year.

“How can we project additional revenue of Rs 50 crore every year when only 30 per cent of the city residents are paying taxes till date? We still have to recover an arrear of round Rs 23.5 crore as property tax, around Rs 6.5 crore as water supply and sewerage charges and around Rs 1.5 crore as house tax from the city,” said Jyoti. He said earlier too, the city had lost around 10 points in the recovery of taxes in the first round and the lackaidsaical attitude of the city residents in paying taxes can cost the city dearly.

“However, we will win the race this time along with the support of the city residents,” said Mayor.

The Smart City plan that could not take off !

Under the smart city plan, the proposed area for development included land around DAV College level crossing, HMV College, Football Chowk, Babrik Chowk covered Bist Doab Canal. The area was to be developed as a mixed society with 60 acres in Burlton Park specifically earmarked for the development of sports infrastructure.

Also, the presence of a fresh water canal was proposed to be used for drinking water purposes and landscaping was planned around the banks to give it a facelift.Tracks for recreational events like walking and cycling were also planned along with the canal bed.

Out of the 60 acres earmarked for the development of sports hub, 10 acres was planned for commercial purposes. A multilevel parking, a five-star hotel, shopping plazas in the area, and the rest of the 50 acres were planned to be used for the construction of various stadiums.

In the Pan City project, the MCJ has proposed to improve the public transportation system in the city and improve the security of city residents by various security measures.

Ludhiana selected, Amritsar, Jalandhar miss the bus

With public participation reported to be among the highest in India, Ludhiana has been chosen among the top 20 winners of the Smart city mission announced by the MoUD on Thursday. Nearly missing the target was Amritsar, placed at the 25th position and Jalandhar at number 27 in the list released by the MoUD. The investment in each smart city will range from Rs 1,049 crore to Rs 5,099 crore.

As the smart city mission is running in its second financial year, the industrial city is all set to receive Rs 200 crore by the MoUD in this March under the smart city mission, with a matching contribution by the state government and urban Local Body concerned.

Meanwhile, Amritsar and Jalandhar, besides beginning introspection on the factors that ousted them in the first phase of the smart city mission will soon prepare a new vision document to be sent to the MoUD to claim place in the second phase of the smart city mission beginning from April this year.

Scorecard of Jalandhar: Phase 1 (ended in August last year)

Scores earned (60 points)

Swachh Bharat implementation: 10/10 points

Percentage of self-generation of internal revenue sources for capital projects (20%): 10 /10 points

Percentage of contribution of tax revenues (between 22% to 35%): 5/5 points

Online grievances: 5/5 points

Publishing of e-newsletter: 5/5 points

Budget estimates since 2010 updated online: 5/5 points

Payment of salaries to staff members: 5/5 pointsAudit update of accounts: 5/5 pointsLevying of penalty system: 5/5 points

Implementation of Jawaharlal Nehru National urban and Renewal Mission (JNNURM) for sewerage works: 5/5 points

Scores lost (40 points)

Non-completion of JNNURM works (City Bus service): 10 points

Decreasing trend of collection of internally generated revenue (less than 30 per cent): 10 points

Inadequate contribution of tax revenue, fee, user and other charges in capital projects (less than 30 per cent): 5 points

Low percentage of establishment cost and maintenance cost of water supply and sewerage: 10 points

Non-establishment of new user charges: 5 points

BMCs projections in vision document submitted to MoUD in December

• Affordable housing
• Public transport and walkability
• Water and sewerage services
• Solid waste management
• Uninterrupted power supply
• Public spaces that includes parks, playgrounds and stadiums
• Public service delivery through e-governance
• Citizen’s role in decision making
• Safety and security
• Street-lights
• Disaster management
• Stray animals
• Waste management
• Water treatment and rainwater harvesting
• Street vendors’ management and slaughter houses
• Smart city proposal (SCP) highlighted potential areas for economy boost
• Sports good manufacturing
• Light engineering and goods manufacturing
• Centre for excellence in sports (hockey, football)
• Education
• Health
• Agro-food processing