Puducherry city first to get Smart city nomination

Puducherry city has emerged as the first nomination to be received by the Urban Development Ministry for a Smart City Mission.
In this regard, Government of Union Territory of Puducherry has nominated its capital city for inclusion in the Union Government’s flagship 100 Smart Cities Mission.
It also has forwarded the nomination along with all the forms and documents as required in the Stage-1 of ‘City Challenge’ competition. The nominations also include the details of evaluation of all the five urban local bodies (ULBs) viz. Puducherry, Kariakal, Oulgaret, Mahe and Yanam.
The nomination was forwarded based on the recommendations of the High Powered Steering Committee (HPSC) constituted as per the guidelines of mission. It was headed by Chief Secretary of UT and had overseen the process of first stage intra-state competition.
For each state and UTs slots assigned for Smart City are as per the criteria based on equal weightage for urban population and number of ULBs and the geographical equity.
Facts about Stage-1 evaluation criteria of Puducherry

• Puducherry has a population of 6.5 lakh has scored 75 of the possible 100 marks in Stage-1 evaluation criteria.
• Since 2011, Puducherry Municipal Corporation (PM) has achieved 18 per cent improvement in provision of household sanitary latrines.
• Internal revenue generation has continuously increased by 14 per cent over the past three year period of 2012-13 to 2014-15.
• It has met 23 per cent of its capital expenditure from internal resources. It also has met about 80 per cent operation and maintenance costs of water supply through user charges.

Month: Current Affairs - July, 2015