The Centre’s pet initiatives of Swachh Bharat and smart cities were reflected in the New Delhi Municipal Council’s budget for 2015-2016, which was presented by chairperson Jalaj Srivastava here on Wednesday.
Mr. Srivastava said the NDMC, which is a century-old organisation, would be moving forward into the next centenary with the concept of smart cities becoming an “imperative”.
“A smart city cannot have only a few hours of water supply a day, or electricity outages, or the streets and public places littered with garbage. Only clean cities are perceived to be smart,” said Mr. Srivastava in his budget speech.
Dream of a
world-class city
He added that the “dream of making the NDMC area a world-class smart city” was a shared one, and could be achieved through meticulous planning.
“Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, parking automation and mobile app, free Wi-Fi, the solar city project and 3D digital mapping are but a few baby steps in that direction,” said Mr. Srivastava.
With a surplus of Rs.27.2 crore, the budget for 2015-2016 featured projects towards making the Lutyens’ Zone a smart city. Though not a new proposal, the NDMC announced it will be putting up 18,500 smart poles that combine Wi-Fi, CCTV cameras and LED lighting in the next three years.
The roofs of all NDMC-owned buildings in the area, which has been declared a solar city by the Centre, will be awarded through an open tender for power generation. A master plan to that effect has been drawn up, said the chairperson.
‘Not a one-day event’
To improve waste management, a chain of small waste-to-energy plants will be set up by the NDMC. In addition, Mr. Srivastava said the Swachh Bharat mission was not “a one-day event”.
“Solid waste management in the NDMC area has been upgraded through our integrated management system,” said the chairperson.
The budgetary allocation for public health and sanitation went up 16.26 per cent from this fiscal’s Rs.106.13 crore to Rs.123.39 crore for 2015-2016.
The NDMC’s Education Department is working on setting up technology-enabled classrooms in five schools on a pilot basis.
