Smart City: Fresh guidelines leave local bodies in a fix

 All the brainstorming efforts hitherto put in by the officials of the local bodies of the cities, which have been selected for the Smart City project, have turned into a futile exercise with the Union government issuing fresh guidelines for the implementation of the project.

The much-hyped Smart City project, funded by both - State and Union governments, as per the earlier guidelines, need to be implemented by taking up development works, by way of retrofitting in 500 acres, redevelopment of 50 acres and green field development in 250 acres along with Pan City initiatives that was mandatory to be incorporated to ensure the benefits of the implementation of the project to every citizen.

With the issuance of new guidelines, the officials of six local bodies, who were already on the verge of submitting the final Smart City Proposal (SCP), have to now start afresh.

Small Scale Industries and District Incharge Minister Satish Jarkiholi informed about the fresh changes in the guidelines here on Saturday, while Belagavi City Corporation Commissioner G Prabhu, said the new guidelines recommend to take up areas, based on the development and to plan for the development of core infrastructure facilities.

This will be taken up, along with only two Pan City initiatives, Smart Solutions that would aim to reach the benefits of the project to the maximum number of people in the City.

The State and Union governments are funding the project, granting a total Rs 500 crore each, during the next five years. It appears that the Union government has now realized that Rs 1,000-crore grants to any city could not transform it into a Smart City and thus, changed the guidelines to only facilitate area-based development.