DoNER will seek more liberal criteria for NE Smart City projects
Smart City is a “holistic” concept and it cannot be practised in piece-meal or in parts, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) and Minister of State PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh, has said.
Speaking as the Chief Guest at “Smart City Summit”, organised by Elets Technomedia Pvt Ltd in New Delhi on July 29, Dr Singh said the smart city initiative is one of the flagship programmes of the Central Government, for which, the Urban Development Ministry has developed a very objective and scientific qualifying criteria for a town or city to be included in this programme.
Considering the typical topographic and developmental status of the eight states in the North-East, he assured he will take up with the Ministry of Urban Development the possibility of having a little more liberal criteria for inclusion of the North-eastern cities in this programme,.
At the same time, Dr Singh said a progressive approach in the smart city initiative is not confined only to the construction of buildings and roads, but also to providing of optimum infrastructure for various facets of life, particularly health and education sectors. Besides, a smart city is not smart only on the basis of its physical appearance, but also on the basis of its people who are smart enough to live up to the requirements and expectations of contemporary times, he added.
In order to make the programme more holistic, the minister called upon the private stakeholders participating in the conference to come forward in partnership with the government and encourage entrepreneurship in the North-East to take advantage of its vast unexplored potential. He said for any new startup initiative in the North-East, in addition to the provisions and facilities provided by the Government of India, the Ministry of DoNER has also announced the additional incentive of providing a Venture Capital Fund.
On the occasion, officer bearers and officials from both government and private sector were presented awards for their outstanding contribution to the smart city programme.
