The Government of India (GoI) and Punjab government today held a high level joint meeting to review the ongoing developmental works under AMRUT, Smart City, HRIDAY Scheme and Swach Bharat Mission aimed at giving complete facelift to the cities and towns of the state. In a high level meeting held here at Punjab Bhawan with the top brass of the state, high level team of the Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India (GoI) held detailed deliberations to review these projects under execution in full swing across the state. The GoI team was of the view that these projects should be further put on a fast track mode to ensure their completion at the earliest. They were of the opinion that besides giving impetus to the development of cities these projects would facilitate the people by providing them world class civic amenities.Dwelling on the Smart City project the officers reviewed the progress of ongoing work in the three towns of Amritsar, Jalandhar and Ludhiana, which were being covered under this ambitious scheme. It was informed that a total outlay of Rs 9715 crore would be spent on these three cities viz.
Ludhiana (4301 Crore), Amritsar (Rs 3430 Crore) and Jalandhar (Rs 1983 Crore).Likewise, discussing the Atal Mission of Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) scheme it was emphasized that 16 major cities and towns of state including Amritsar, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Bathinda, Patiala, Hoshiarpur, Pathankot, Moga, Mohali, Barnala, Sri Muktsar sahib, Khanna, Abohar, Malerkotla, Batala and Ferozepur have been covered under this ambitious scheme which would ensure facilities like Water Supply, Sewerage, Septage, Storm Water Drainage, Urban Transport, Green Spaces and Parks, Reforms Management and Support and Capacity Building in these cities and towns. Reviewing the Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojna (HRIDAY) scheme for Amritsar it was apprised that Amritsar City has been selected as one of 12 Cities in India for heritage development under HRIDAY Scheme, to be completed in the period of four years i.e. from December, 2014 to March, 2018. The GoI has already sanctioned Rs.69.31 Crore as 100% grant for Amritsar City and the Work was under progress on this ambitious project.
It was also informed in the meeting that under Swach Bharat Mission which aims at elimination of open defecation, eradication of Manual Scavenging, construction of modern and Scientific Municipal Solid Waste Management, effect behavioral change regarding healthy sanitation practices, create awareness about sanitation and its linkage with public health, capacity Augmentation for ULB’s and creating an enabling environment for private sector participation in Capex (capital expenditure) and Opex (operation and maintenance), the work should be completed at the earliest so as to ensure the complete success of this ambitious scheme. Prominent amongst other present in the meeting included Chief Secretary Mr. Karan Avtar Singh, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Mr. Tejvir Singh, Additional Chief Secretary Local Government Mr. DP Reddy, Secretary Local Government Mr. JM Balamurgam, Director Local Government Mr. Kamal Kishore Yadav, Secretary Ministry of Urban Development GoI Mr. Rajiv Gauba and Additional Secretary (Smart Cities) Mr. Sumit Kumar.