Three months after it received Rs 436 crore from the Centre for the Smart City projects in Pune and Solapur, the Maharashtra government has failed to spend a single rupee from the fund. Officials related to the project say red-tapism delayed the process.
Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious Smart Cities Mission, 20 cities, including Pune and Solapur, were chosen from across the country in January to be developed into smart cities. For a city’s makeover, it was decided that the Centre and the state government would equally contribute Rs 500 crore to each chosen city.
In May this year, Pune and Solapur received 150 crore and Rs 286 crore respectively from the Central government. According to government officials, although the funds would not lapse, the process of achieving the target might get delayed. The civic bodies in Pune and Solapur may receive two more installments of funds under the scheme by this year-end.
In the first instalment, the Maharashtra government has its share of Rs 186 crore for both the cities. However, it has been revealed that the funds are lying unused in the absence of a concrete plan. “It is true that the funds have not been spent. There are too many technical things that remain to be completed. This is what is delaying the work. The parameters for ‘smart cities’ are also unclear,” an official from the state urban development department told this newspaper.
The state government is aiming to make the cities smart by 2019 and no criteria has been fixed on when the Centre will sanction the next instalment of funds, the official added.
When contacted, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who also heads the urban development department, could not be reached for comment on the issue.
The smart cities are expected to be developed on certain parameters such as water supply and sanitation, uninterrupted electricity, solid waste management, transportation facilities, digital connectivity, e-governance, affordable housing, sustainable environment, citizens’ safety and security, and health and education.
Pune’s development plan includes the installation of vehicle health monitoring systems in 1,080 buses, real-time tracking of all the buses by installing GPS, CCTV surveillance and panic buttons, a public information system (PIS) comprising bus guides and LED screens depicting the expected time of arrival and other critical information about all buses and stops, a mobile app and website providing real-time information, and Wi-Fi in 510 buses. The plan also includes improving adaptive traffic signals across 295 signals with a central command centre, also equipped with ‘pedestrian buttons’, smart parking across seven multi-level car parks, intelligent road asset management to improve road conditions, traffic mobile apps and an online portal with live and forecasted traffic and traffic analysis using CCTV feed and mobile GPS.
Solapur has planned e-governance and citizens’ services that would include public information and grievance redressal, electronic service delivery, citizen engagement, video crime watch, transformation of waste to energy and fuel, recycling and reduction, smart water meters and management, water leakage identification and prevention, water quality monitoring, use of renewable resources of energy, and energy-efficient and green buildings.
