Varanasi civic infra, heritage projects to be speeded up

Projects related to upgrading of civic infrastructure and rejuveation of heritage in Varanasi would be speeded up in a time-bound manner, officials today said.
This was agreed upon at a two-hour long review meeting taken by Urban Development Secretary Rajiv Gauba here, an official statement said.
Construction of household and community toilets, solid waste management, cleaning of ghats, installation of LED lights, land acquisition for a water treatment plant, among other projects, were discussed in detail, it said.
Gauba asked the state government officials to ensure speedy and concerted efforts to make Varanasi an open defecation-free city at the earliest.

It was also noted in the meeting that National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has agreed to operationalise a waste processing plant at Karsada in a month's time and Varanasi Municipal Corporation will come out with an action plan for ensuring round-the-clock cleaning of ghats in ten days time.
A committee will be set up under the Divisional Commissioner of Varnasi to enable speedy execution of 24 road projects under the Heritage Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) to be implemented by the National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC), it said.
Regarding operationalisation of Kyoto-Varanasi Collaboration Agreement, it was agreed that JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) will soon complete survey works for Rs 760 crore sewerage network projects in cis-Varuna areas of the city and Rs 100 crore sewerage and STP project in Ramnagar so that they could be launched before the India-Japan Cooperation Review due next year, it said.