1. Home
  2. PM Narendra Modi launches three ambitious schemes for transforming urban India

PM Narendra Modi launches three ambitious schemes for transforming urban India

June 26, 2015

New Delhi, Jun 26: Marking a major initiative for urban development in the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday launched the Smart Cities Mission, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) and Housing for All.

modi-smart-city

The main objective of the three ambitious schemes launched by the Prime Minister is to develop Indian cities and towns as new engines of growth.

The three big ticket projects – Smart Cities Mission, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) and the Housing for All, now named as Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), are worth Rs four lakh crore.

While AMRUT seeks to ensure basic infrastructure and sanitation, PMAY enables the urban poor to own decent and affordable houses.

Launching these three schemes, the Prime Minister said under Smart Cities Mission, quality of life will be enhanced in 100 identified cities and towns by ensuring quality infrastructure, improving services through application of smart solutions and enabling a clean and sustainable environment.

These 500 cities will become engines of growth and they in turn should develop into smart cities, Modi said.

Citing the existing housing shortage of 2 crore units, the Prime Minister said that India was completing 75 years of independence in 2022, and by then, it was our responsibility to provide a house for everyone.

Modi said today there is a lack of holistic vision about urban planning, and expansion is driven not by the administrators of a city, but by property developers. Through AMRUT, the aim of the Government is to give cities themselves the chance to plan their future growth.

PM also unveiled the criteria and guidelines for the smart cities and other schemes besides releasing operational guidelines for the three urban missions, unveiling logos and tag lines.

500 cities having 1 lakh and more population will be chosen for AMRUT project, PM Modi said, adding that neither the Centre not states will have any discretion in choosing 100 cities through a competition for smart cities scheme.

The Minister for Urban Development Venkaiah Naidu, and the Minister of State for Urban Development Babul Supriyo, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis, the Chief Minister of Haryana Manohar Lal Khattar, and the Deputy Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Nirmal Kumar Singh were present on the occasion.

The launching event will be followed by a two-day workshop in which over 1000 mayors, municipal heads, ministers concerned from states and their chief secretaries will take part.

UP leads the pack as it has been given the opportunity to nominate 13 cities to be developed as smart cities, while 54 cities in the state have been identified under AMRUT scheme.

Tamil Nadu comes second with the allocation of 12 smart cities and 33 AMRUT cities.

While Maharashtra has been alloted 10 cities to nominate under the smart city project, Gujarat and Karnataka are eligible to develop six cities each.

Under AMRUT scheme, 37, 31 and 21 cities have been identified in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka respectively.

Delhi has got one city each for Smart City and AMRUT.

According to the criteria finalised by the government, West Bengal and Rajasthan get to nominate four cities for the smart city project; Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab three cities; Odisha, Haryana, Telangana and Chhatisgarh two cities; and Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Jharkhand, Assam, Himachal, Goa, Arunachal and Chandigarh one city each.

Similarly, under the AMRUT scheme, 31 cities have been identified in Andhra Pradesh; 30 in Rajasthan; 28 in West Bengal; 27 in Bihar; 19 in Odisha and Haryana; 18 in Kerala; 17 in Punjab; 15 in Telangana and 10 in Chhattisharh.

Twelve states - UP, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, MP, Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Telangana and Chhattisgarh would lead the urban transformation piloted by the Modi-led government.

These 12 states account for 70 percent of smart cities to be developed and AMRUT cities to be rejuvenated.

Of these 12 states, eight are under the rule of BJP or its allies accounting for about half of smart cities to be developed and 225 of 476 AMRUT cities identified so far. UTs are also the responsibility of central government.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
August 8,2020

Kozhikode, Aug 8: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the next of kin of each passenger who died when an Air India Express flight veered off the runway while attempting to land at the Karipur International Airport here on August 7.

He was briefing the media after visiting the crash site at the airport and the injured at the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital.

Offering his condolences, the Chief Minister said, "Apart from the solatium for the victims, the state government would bear the treatment expenses of all those injured in this unfortunate plane crash irrespective of the hospitals they are in. The Civil Aviation Ministry and other Central Government agencies are expected to announce compensation for the air passengers. 

If any further assistance is required, the State Government will take an appropriate decision at that time to support them to get back to a normal life."

"However, the immediate task now is to ensure the best possible treatment for the survivors of the accident. The District Authority is coordinating the treatment of those rescued who are now in 16 hospitals across Kozhikode and Malappuram Districts," added Vijayan.

Of the 190 people on board the ill-fated plane, there were 184 passengers and six crew members. Of the 18 dead so far, 14 are adults (seven males and females each) and four are children. Both the Pilot and the Co-Pilot are among those dead. At present, 149 passengers are hospitalised, of them 23 with serious injuries. Till now, 23 passengers have been discharged. There are few passengers from Tamil Nadu and Telangana also.

All the dead have been identified, eight from Kozhikode district, six from Malappuram district and two from Palakkad district. The post mortem process has been expedited despite the Covid threat and is expected to finish before evening. All the accident victims will be tested for Covid including those who died in the crash. So far, only one victim has tested positive for coronavirus, the Chief Minister said.

He also appreciated the instant response by the local public living in the vicinity of the airport and also the local authorities to this tragedy which ensured the minimum loss of lives in a disaster of such large magnitude as a plane crash. The rescue operations were finished in the shortest possible time yesterday.

"Even though 18 precious lives have been lost due to the impact of the crash, the rescue operations were a miraculous work. The general public and the officials played a big role in spearheading the rescue operations," he said.

Vijayan along with Governor Arif Mohammad Khan reached Kozhikode this morning.

Governor Arif Mohammad Khan expressed his condolences and sympathies to the families of the accident victims and his best wishes for the speedy recovery of those injured.

The Chief Minister was accompanied by the Niyamasabha Speaker, P. Sreeramakrishnan; Minister for Industry E.P Jayarajan, Minister for Health and Social Justice, K K Shailaja; Minister for Agriculture V.S Sunilkumar; Minister for Ports Ramachandran Kadannappalli; Minister for Transport AK Saseendran, Minister for Excise T.P Ramakrishnan, Chief Secretary, Dr Vishwas Mehta; and State Police Chief, Loknath Behra, DGP. 

The Minister for Local Self Governments, A C Moideen and the Minister for Higher Education and Welfare of Minorities, Dr K T Jaleel were already present in Kozhikode.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
April 6,2020

New Delhi, Apr 6: With an increase of 490 cases in the last 12 hours, the total number of COVID-19 positive cases in India climbed to 4067, said Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Monday.

As many as 109 deaths have been reported across the country due to the deadly disease.
There are 3666 active cases in the country while 292 people have been cured/discharged/migrated.

Maharashtra has reported the highest number of COVID-19 cases so far, standing at 690, followed by Tamil Nadu and Delhi with 571 and 503 cases respectively. 

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
January 28,2020

New Delhi, Jan 28: Kolkata Metro Rail Corp expects to complete its East-West project, which runs partly under the city’s iconic Hooghly river, by March 2022 after a delay of several years doubled costs.

The authority is awaiting a final installment of Rs 20 crore ($2.8 million) over the next two years from the Indian Railway Board, said Manas Sarkar, managing director at KMRC. A soft loan of Rs 4,160 crore from Japan International Cooperation Agency helps fund 48.5% of the project.

India’s oldest metro, which started in 1984 with a North-South service, was due to expand by 2014 but faced problems including squatters on the planned route. These issues have contributed to the total project cost rising to about Rs 8,600 crore for some 17 kilometers from Rs 4,900 crore for 14 km.

“About 40% of total transport demand will be tackled by these two metro services,” Sarkar said in an interview at his office in Kolkata. “It will be a relief for environmental pollution and the city should be much more decongested.”

The new line is expected to carry about 900,000 people daily, -- roughly 20% of the city’s population -- and will take less than a minute to cross a 520-meter underwater tunnel. Depending on the time of day, it takes some 20 minutes to use the ferry and anywhere upward of an hour to cross the Howrah bridge.

KMRC will repay the JICA loan over 30 years after an initial six-year moratorium. The interest rate is between 1.2% to 1.6%. The East-West metro project is 74% owned by the railway ministry and 26% by the ministry of housing and urban affairs.

“We don’t anticipate any further cost escalation now,” Sarkar said.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.