ITANAGAR, 13 Jan: Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju on Friday reviewed the progress of the smart city projects in Itanagar and Pasighat through a virtual meeting.
“Expressing satisfaction over the progress of the smart city projects in the two cities on a war footing in the mission’s penultimate year of the Smart City Mission (SCM), Rijiju called for smart cities to capture the imagination of people and focus on ‘feel-good-inducing’ interventions,” Itanagar Smart City Development Corporation Ltd CEO Dahey Sangno informed in a release.
“A smart city must be smart in all sense. Having smart infrastructure is not enough; we need to onboard people to make them think and behave smartly. We should sensitise citizens to become responsible to their city,” Rijiju said, adding that impetus should be given to smart policing, tourist-centric projects and aesthetics of the cities.
“The SCM was launched with great fanfare in 2015. People had a high expectation about the outcome. Therefore it is necessary that the projects are evaluated and completed as per the stipulated timeline,” the minister added.
He suggested that the SCM be converged with other government resources, architects, city planners and designers “to make Itanagar and Pasighat dream tourist destinations.”
Urban Development Commissioner Neeraj Semwal highlighted the smart city projects being undertaken in the two cities.
“Pasighat smart city is implementing 43 projects for Rs 511.5 crore, out of which 12 projects have been completed and the remaining are progressing at various stages. In Itanagar, some 32 projects are being implemented, worth Rs 559.15 crore, out of which six are completed and the remaining are in various stages of completion,” he said.
Sangno and his Pasighat counterpart made detailed presentations on the physical and financial progress of their respective city.
Some of the major ongoing projects of the PSC are market area up-gradation, smart roads, storm water drains, sewage treatment plant, solid waste management, riverfront development, and heritage redevelopment.
“For Itanagar, multipurpose vendor market, automated car parking facilities, eco-tourism park, Yagamso river cleaning, bioremediation of legacy waste, redevelopment of Ganga market, pedestrian sidewalks, CC roads, storm water drains, artisan-cum-handicraft exhibition centre, redevelopment of IG Park, etc, are some of the notable projects under the SCM,” Sangno said.
