Stresses on active participation of all stakeholders in plan conceptualization
Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Nirmal Singh today chaired a meeting to review the process of preparation of plan Proposals for Jammu city under Smart City scheme.
Speaker, Legislative Assembly, Kavinder Gupta, Minister of State for Tourism, Culture and Education, Priya Sethi, Members Parliament, Jugal Kishore Sharma, Shamsher Singh Manhas, Legislators Rajesh Gupta, Devender Singh Rana, Ashok Khajuria, Ajat Shatru Singh, Charanjeet Singh Khalsa were also present in the meeting.
A detailed presentation on the preparations on Smart City Proposal Challenge-2 was made by the representatives of M/S.Voyants Solutions Consultants engaged for the purpose explicitly highlighting the main contours of the plan.
It was given out in the meeting that the consultants shall submit the first draft by November 15after thorough citizen consultations.
“The final draft shall be submitted by November 30 while as the December 15th has been fixed as the date for submission of final proposal”, the meeting was told.
The Deputy Chief Minister said the Smart Cities Mission is an ambitious project to drive economic growth and improve the quality of life of the people by enabling local area development and harnessing technology, especially which leads to Smart outcomes.
He said that comprehensive and sustainable development in this way will improve quality of life, evolving inclusive Cities. He said that the entire process is citizen driven and optimal results can be achieved by active participation of all stakeholders in plan conceptualization.
Stressing on better synergy among the concerned line departments for the compilation of data for preparation of wide-ranging proposal for the Smart city challenge, Deputy Chief Minister directed the concerned heads to designate a nodal officer from their departments who shall report to Commissioner, Jammu Municipal Corporation on daily basis with the requisite information so that information compilation for proposal is expedited.
Deputy Chief Minister maintained that citizens are the key stakeholders in Smart City Challenge and it is imperative that mass awareness is created in this regard. He stressed on launching a comprehensive sensitization programme through media so that people come up with their ideas.
Speaking on the occasion, Minister of state for Tourism, Culture and Education, Priya Sethi stressed on identifying the assets of Jammu city in line to their historic and heritage importance to make these the focal points of the developmental plan, which shall give impetus to local economy through tourism sector.
Among others the meeting was attended by Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Dr. Pawan Kotwal, Commissioner Secretary HUDD Hridesh Kumar, Deputy Commissioner Jammu, Simrandeep singh and HODs of various line departments.
Earlier, Commissioner Secretary HUDD Hridesh Kumar gave a brief overview of the steps underway towards Smart City Proposal preparation. He said that Jammu Municipal Corporation has been appointed as the nodal agency which shall work in synergy with other line departments for preparation of a city vide plan.
He said that the consulting firm will prepare a smart city proposal to participate ‘in challenge’ competition according to the Smart city Mission statement and guidelines after a detailed citizen consultation.
Hridesh Kumar also informed the house that possibilities are being explored to dovetail various other schemes such as AMRUT and SBM, HRIDAY etc with Smart City Mission in achieving urban transformation.
Regarding public relation activity, it was informed that the Informatics Wing of JMC assisted the Consultants has taken different initiatives like creation of My Gov page/Facebook page/Twitter Account/Whatsapp group/opinion poll.
In addition to this Essay and Logo competition, advertisement scroll on TV Channels for awareness and seeking suggestions have also been launched.
