Smart Cities: Belagavi Davangere documents get Centre's approval

Urban Development Minister Vinay Kumar Sorake on Monday said the Centre had recently approved the vision documents for developing Davangere and Belagavi as smart cities.

Speaking to reporters, he said the state had already established special purpose vehicles for implementing the Centre-sponsored Smart Cities project. The estimated cost of the vision documents for these cities is Rs 1,500 crore each. The state will soon submit the vision document for Shivamogga, Tumakuru, Mangaluru and Hubballi-Dharwad, he added.

Directions have been issued to all urban local bodies to set up waste-processing plants to dispose of garbage. “We do not want other cities and towns to go the Bengaluru way. Plans are being drawn up to convert garbage into compost in other cities and towns,” he said.

“The government had decided to do away with hiring pourakarmikas on contract basis, excluding BBMP. Separate recruitment rules will be chalked out for the appointment of pourakarmikas. A fixed salary of Rs 13,000 will be paid to them. The recruitment of pourakarmikas will start from the next financial year,” he said.

The government has recently issued a notification to fill 1,300 vacant posts in 10 city corporations through the Karnataka Public Service Commission. Similarly, sanction will soon be accorded soon to fill about 3,000 vacant posts in various urban local bodies, he said.