Faridabad, Ghaziabad tops smart cities list in NCR; Noida still breathes, Gurgaon disappoints
In what we can call a competitive decision, the Ministry of Urban Development on August 27 has released the list of 98 nominated cities for the smart city challenge and Faridabad has topped the table in NCR with 95 points.
What made Faridabad the top among the counter NCR giants? This question is nothing to be fingers crossed. It’s just the timely functioning of the Municipal Corporation.
The Faridabad Municipality has taken subtle measures in collection of general revenues so as to nullify financial constrains in its administration. They have also changed according to time by enacting an online grievance mechanism and an e-bulletin which eased the queries of public. The municipality also paid in timely manner, the dues of nearly 60 employees who has retired by the end of month June, which amounts to six crore rupees. This shows the clear and fluent administration of the Municipality of Faridabad which has lead to its stardom among the smart cities list in NCR.
Faridabad had also completed three out of four projects under the JnNURM scheme. These completed projects are much needed for the people like revamping of the sewage system, sewage treatment works and drainage works in old Faridabad. This also has worked in favour of Faridabad. Apart from Faridabad, Karnal is also included in the smart city list from Haryana.
Meanwhile, immediate contender Ghaziabad made it to the list because of its infrastructure development. Adding to inclusion are the events like metro expansion from Dilshad Garden to new bus stand and the eco friendly construction of 18 km cycle track. By enlisting in the list, Ghaziabad will further boost its eco friendly activities like energy conservation and pollution control. Earlier Ghaziabad stood at 138th position among 476 cities in the Swachh Bharat Rankings which also was a factor which helped the city to get enlisted in the smart cities.
While Noida still stand a chance in the list with fulfilling 70% of the parameters, Gurgaon disappointed with its exclusion due to poor governance. In Delhi, NDMC (New Delhi Municipal Council) was selected while others EDMC and SDMC failed to submit their nominations before deadline.
Smart city is a vision of an urban hood which is nature friendly as well as technologically advanced which uses ample information technology to improve its efficiency. The move for a smart city challenge from the Modi Government can be analyzed really ‘smart’. As the proverb ‘Rome was not built in a day’ implies, developing a city with all the above mentioned ‘smart’ factors is not easy. What exactly the smart city challenge does is that it motivates every municipality to perform well and satisfy the public thereby getting enlisted in the smart city challenge. So a constant development can be expected in the whole of India.
And much important to the realty arena is the Centres’ reference note to the MP’s that smart cities are those that can attract investment. So with the Centres’ positive nod to investment, the next realty boom can be expected to be anchored on the backdrop of these smart cities which will encompasses adequate e-governance and citizen services, waste/water/energy management, urban mobility and much more.
