Lokmat News Network
Aurangabad, Jan 17:
The historic city Aurangabad has been shortlisted as one of the 11 cities, out of 113, which have been qualified for Stage 2 of the Streets For People Challenge, introduced by the Smart Cities Mission of the union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA). The announcement of the award was made during an online programme held on Monday. The city will also be receiving a prize of Rs 50 lakh, it is learnt.
The shortlisted 11 cities will receive an award, a citation, and guidance from national and international experts to further develop and commence their scale-up plans submitted in Stage 1. The Challenge has been initiated with an aim to make streets walking-friendly, safe and inclusive for all. The streets will be made vibrant for all sections of society.
As part of the campaign, the Aurangabad Smart City Development Corporation Limited (ASCDCL) selected the stretches of Kranti Chowk and Cannaught Place to carry out pilot testing to ensure parking discipline, improve the walking experience, improve pedestrian safety, enhance aesthetics, create spaces for socialising, boost the local economy and boost the visitor
experience. Besides, Open Streets programmes were also held at Paithan Gate, Kranti Chowk and Cannaught Place. The traffic movement was stopped to give citizens the experience of vehicle-free streets during the open programmes.
The ASCDCL undertook the challenge under the guidance of its chief executive officer (CEO) and municipal commissioner A K Pandey. As a part of scale-up plans, ASCDCL prepared designs to transform four streets - Kranti Chowk to Gopal Tea Centre, Paithan Gate to Gulmandi, Cannaught Place and Priyadarshini MGM Street. It is hoped that the transformations of these streets will help the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) in drafting hawkers zone policy and parking policy in the city.
According to ASCDCL sources, " By winning the first stage of Challenge, Aurangabad has surpassed big cities like New Delhi, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Surat, Jaipur, Bhopal, Nashik and Thane."
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Moment of pride for all
The ASCDCL-CEO A K Pandey said," There was a competition between 113 cities at Stage 1 of the Challenge. Hence the selection of Aurangabad surpassing other big cities is a major achievement. It will boost the image of the city on the national level. The credit of success goes to the citizens of Aurangabad, ASCDCL and AMC. We are committed to transforming the selected streets to give a modern look to Aurangabad."