Bhendi Bazaar prototype to be showcased at Prime Minister's smart city event

 

A smart city prototype around Mumbai's Bhendi Bazaar, a popular shopping destination, will be showcased at an event where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the ambitious '100 smart cities' scheme of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government on Thursday. Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust (SBUT), a community-led organisation, is behind this project to give a makeover to Bhendi Bazaar, which lacks adequate infrastructure.

The cluster redevelopment scheme has been chosen as a pilot for the government's city rejuvenation plan. The pilot, which has got initial approvals, will be carried out over an area of more than 16 acres. The funds required for the project is being raised internally within the community representing Muslim population, according to a representative of the Trust. While the trust was started by Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin, now his son, Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin, is the man behind the project.

SMART SCHEME

• Cluster redevelopment scheme has been chosen as a pilot for the government’s city rejuvenation plan
• The pilot will be carried out over an area of around 16 acres
• Funds for the project is being raised within the community
• The project will cover 3,200 families and 1,250 shops

"The vision of the project is to provide residential and commercial tenants with an environment that fosters human growth in all aspects - spiritual, intellectual, social and financial,'' the trust said.

The project will cover 3,200 families and 1,250 shops. Around 17 new buildings, wide roads, modern infrastructure, more open spaces and highly visible commercial areas are expected to come up. Of the 100 proposed smart cities across states and Union territories, 20 would be selected this financial year, it is learnt. The rest would join the club in two batches of 40 each in the next two years, said a source in the government.

Once the entire smart-city plan is rolled out across the country, Uttar Pradesh will account for the most (13), followed by Tamil Nadu (12), Maharashtra (10), Madhya Pradesh (seven), and Gujarat and Karnataka (six each). Though the timeline hadn't been defined, the entire exercise of making 100 cities 'smart' could take a decade or more, said an expert.

Among those that could be part of the list are Lucknow, Allahabad and Varanasi in UP; Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai in Tamil Nadu; Ahmedabad, Gandhi Nagar, Surat and Rajkot in Gujarat; Amritsar, Ludhiana and Jalandhar in Punjab; Gurgaon and Faridabad in Haryana; Shimla in Himachal Pradesh; and Haridwar and Roorkee in Uttarakhand.

While the Union Cabinet had cleared central funding of Rs 100 crore per city a year through a period of five years in April, Modi is scheduled to announce the finer details of the plan on Thursday. He will also provide the details of the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT). A combined funding of Rs 1 lakh crore was cleared for 100 smart cities, as well as for the rejuvenation of 500 others.

Selection of potential smart-city candidates will be based on a two-stage competition called "city challenge". While states will first compete to name their cities, the second stage will be about cities making the cut. The evaluation of cities and towns will be based on criteria framed by the Ministry of Urban Development, in consultation with states. The Centre has mandated every state be made part of the smart-city universe.