India, Maharashtra, vijay kumbhar, News, Governance, RTI, Transparency, Civic Issues, Real Estate: JNNURM

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

After being “little bit urban” same cities are now ready to be SMART

After being “little bit urban” under Jawaharlal Nehru Urban renewal Mission ( JNNURM) many same cities are now ready to be SMART under PM Narendra Modi’s Smart Cities scheme. And off course Pune and Pimpri Chinachwad are no eception to that.PM Narendra Modi has squashed JNNURM and started the smart city scheme where the Centre and state will fund some amount remaining will be contributed by the chosen cities. There are some guidelines framed for cities to be smart under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT)

Photo Courtsey https://www.sunstonecommunication.com

The smart city mission will focus on water supply, sewerage facilities and sewage management, storm water drains to reduce flooding,. pedestrian, non-motorized and public transport facilities, parking spaces, and enhancing amenity value of cities by creating and upgrading green spaces, parks and recreation centers, especially for children.

Photo Courtsey kannanranji.wordpress.com

Public information, grievance redressal, electronic service delivery, citizens’ engagement, waste to energy & fuel, waste to compost, 100% treatment of waste water, smart meters & management, monitoring water quality, renewable source of energy, efficient energy and green building, smart parking, intelligent traffic management system are the key areas that are to be improved under smart city mission.

The Central government had invited proposals from cities who want to be a part of smart cities mission. The cities were supposed to send proposals after consulting people . However Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) being already smart, it sent an invitation to some "smart" activists and NGO’s to give consent for smart city proposal. PMC sent the invitation on 8th July (Evening) and convened the meeting on 9th July i.e very next day at 11 A M .

The names of participants are not known. However, former Major General and President of Nagrik Chetna Mach refused to be “PMC Smart” activist or NGO. The reasons he gave for declining to attend were 1) The invitation for the meeting received very late and it is not possible to attend the meeting at the 11th hour 2) PMC hasn’t shown any proof whether it has the capability of making Pune a Smart City as PMC has failed in public transportation, water supply and solid waste management. PMPML has failed because of PMC does not give the promised fundsand PMC has also failed in completing any project as per the rules and regulations. 3) How the funds under JNNURM were spent known to all.

However PMC sent proposal to state government. Meanwhile Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation also sent proposal to be part of Smart cities. PMC at least did a farce of public participation, PCMC didn’t even bother to ask or consult anybody. Now state government has sent PMC and PCMC”s proposal together to central government

Smart city means a city equipped with basic infrastructure to give a decent quality of life, a clean and sustainable environment through application of some smart solutions. However as the new generation’s life revolve around smart phones most of suggestions given are related to mobile applications. For them being smart means only use of smart phones and mobile apps. PMC is to be blamed for this to happen because they didn’t provide background material to citizens before inviting suggestions. Unless basic infrastructure is not improved improved mobile apps or computer can do nothing.

As far as many municipal officers are concerned they use computers as typewriters only. If you send them email they take printout and process it manually, for them that is the height of e governance. Anyways, fortunately app lovers haven’t sent proposals for online games, casinos, discotheques or pubs as new generations need. For detail suggestions visit http://punesmartcity.in

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Thursday, December 25, 2014

Not all is well with parliamentary panel's report on urban development

Parliamentary standing committee on urban development (PSCUD) has suggested that the BRTS system plan for Pune as well as Pimpari Chinchwad which is still at the planning stage and must be immediately put on hold and further course of action should only be taken after detailed Consultation with the important stake-holders such as the commuters of the city.

Daily Prabhat 8 November 2014

This committee had visited Pune on 7^th November .It was part of its study tour to Pune, Mumbai, Puri and Bhubaneshwar. Though committee was on three day study tour to Pune, it rapped up its visit in one and half day. Even media was kept away from that tour. It was also alleged that after rapping up study tour committee went on to Shirdi, though it was not scheduled in their tour.Ther was also criticism on committee's stay in five star hotel.

There are several controversial things in this report.i.e. When PSCUD says “that the BRTS system plan for Pune as well as Pimpri Chinchwad which is still at the planning stage must be immediately put on hold because they received numerous complaints from the average citizens where the BRTS system is proposed to be introduced but did not receive any satisfactory answers from the Government agencies to the problems envisaged by the commuters in Pune. And administration feels it has been saddled with a fait-accompli by way of the BRTS proposal and now does not know But what about Pimpri Chinchwad BRTS ?. Why it should be put on hold?how to disengage from it without loss of face”. But world bank says the Pimpri-Chinchwad BRT may serve as a model for replication across India. Who is right? World Bank or PSCUD. It is fact that there is no BRTS in its true terms in Pune.

PSCUD says there should be a town planner in each city and CEO should be an I.A.S officer. Then only town can be developed in a systematic manner. What is the logic?. Town planner one can understand but why CEO should be an IAS officer. Is this the only tribe in India that can save the country? In last 77 years they are the only people who have served (?) it. But what is the outcome?.

About JNNURM projects PSCUD says “feed back from the study tour of the Committee to Maharashtra and Orissa is that all these projects will remain incomplete after thousands of crores having been spent on these projects. It would be a monumental waste of public money”. But committee doesn’t go beyond that , it doesn’t fix or say anything about responsibility of such a mess.

Here is the report presented to loksabha and Rajyasabha on 18/12/2014 by committee