Aurangabad, Jan 23:
The state Urban Development (UD) minister Eknath Shinde held a review meeting with the chief executive officers (CEOs) of Maharashtra's eight smart cities, through video-conferencing, on Friday. Director (Smart City Mission) Kunal Kumar was also present in the virtual meeting.
"The national ranking of our Smart Cities should be improved. Pune is on 15th position, Aurangabad is on 51st position, and Kalyan-Dombivili is on 68th position in the national ranking. It is observed that the main reason for poor ranking despite work happening on the ground, is the unavailability of funds from the municipal corporation," pointed out Shinde. Accordingly, the minister suggested utilizing unused land of the municipal corporation for commercial purpose to generate revenue for Smart City projects, on the lines of Pune and Thane cities.
The CEO of Aurangabad Smart City Development Corporation Limited (ASCDCL) A K Pandey apprised the minister about the ongoing projects including citizen-centric projects like development of heritage site of Gaumukh, illumination and landscaping of heritage gates, construction of bus depot, construction of modern bus bay, Safari Park, E-Governance, Smart streets for people and Cycles for Change. “ These projects will become a reality soon and will help elevate the national ranking of the city," stressed the CEO.