Puducherry Becomes First to Send Nomination for Smart City
With the first stage of city challenge competition being launched for selecting towns and cities from different states to be developed as smart cities, Puducherry, also known as Pondicherry, has become the first Union Territory (UT)/city to submit its nomination in the country.
Puducherry scores well
The first stage of the city challenge competition was recently held among urban bodies of Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe, Oulgaret and Yanam. The capital of Puducherry did well and scored 75 out of 100 marks, based on the various criteria laid down by the central government. A high powered steering committee (HPSC) highlighted that the Puducherry municipal corporation achieved 18 per cent improvement in providing household toilets since 2011. It also increased the internal revenue generation over the 3-year period from 2012, paid regular salaries to its employees and got the accounts audited till the financial year 2012-13.
The municipal corporation has met about 23 per cent of capital expenditure from its internal sources. It met about 80 per cent of its operations and maintenance costs involved in water supply, from its users, while posting details of its budget expenditures for the financial years from 2013 on its website. It has setup an online grievance redressal system, which is operational and published monthly e-newsletters on the municipal body’s website.
According to the HPSC, the Puducherry government had followed the guidelines laid down by the central government and had constituted an inter-department task force for advising and coordinating preparation of smart city.
Puducherry’s development plans
Expectations were high on selecting Puducherry for the ‘Smart City’ project by the Ministry of Urban Development, even before the official launch of the mission by the central government in June this year. The city’s comprehensive development plan as a smart city is being based on the city’s mobility, which is being drawn up the Pondicherry Planning Authority (PPA) and transport department. The public works department (PWD) already has proposals including water supply, drainage, solid-waste management and garbage processing. The project is expected to have a 5-year time frame.
