Chief Secy assesses progress on Smart City works, other schemes of H&UDD

Srinagar, Jul 6: Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo, Saturday held a meeting to review status of different ongoing projects of Smart City Mission (SCM) here in twin cities of Srinagar and Jammu besides assessing other schemes of Housing & Urban Development Department (H&UDD) under implementation in J&K.
Present in the meeting were Commissioner Secretary, H&UDD, VC, LCMA, CEO, JSCL, HoDs besides other concerned officers.
The Chief Secretary had a detailed project-wise assessment of smart city works currently under progress in twin cities of Srinagar and Jammu.
Regarding the operation of 100 e-buses by the concerned smart city authorities, the Chief Secretary asked for taking a relook into the distance covered by each bus in a day and its occupancy during each trip. He emphasised optimum utilization of capacity of these buses with minimum coverage of about 200 kms a day.
The Chief Secretary reviewed the plan for cleaning and beautification of Dal and Nigeen Lakes. He asked for accelerating the pace of progress on all the works.
Regarding running of water transport, the Chief Secretary asked for choosing routes that are more treaded and economically viable for people.
The Chief Secretary also impressed upon the department to lay added focus on implementation of PMAY-Urban scheme as it provides necessary support to urban poor for constructing their own houses. He asked for making it’s traction more amenable for public by making the process attractive for the eligible applicants.
Commissioner Secretary, H&UDD, Mandeep Kaur, presented an overview of the works in progress under the Smart City Mission. She detailed out the specific reasons and challenges faced in timely completion of certain works and the renewed deadlines fixed for each project.
She revealed that out of 127 projects, 117 have been completed and 10 are at different stages of completion under Jammu Smart City Limited (JSCL). Similarly, for Srinagar Smart City Limited (SSCL), out of 184 projects, 114 have been completed and rest are under progress.
Giving details about the JSCL projects under progress, it was informed that these included Tawi River Front development, Street development from Mubarak Mandi to Raghunath Bazar, street development from Canal road to Talab Tillo, Library cum Cafeteria at Mubarak Mandi, Oceanarium at Bagh-i-Bahu, Heritage conservation works, improvement of 23 road junctions besides newly taken-up ‘waste to wonder’ projects in Jammu.
The ongoing works of SSCL that came up for discussion included Lakefront development from Nishat to Naseembagh, development & beautification of Shalimar Canal, upgradation of Batamaloo Qamarwari Road,upgradation of Batamaloo-Moominabad Road, Traditional Souq market at Batamaloo, phased upgradation of Downtown/Shehr-i-khaas markets, Jhelum waterfront development besides other projects.
It was revealed that most of these projects are at advanced stages of completion and are expected to be dedicated to public by September this year.