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Smart City Projects
Torrent Group's philanthropic arm, UNM Foundation, has signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with six civic bodies for the maintenance of 69 lakes across Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar districts, covering over 2 million square metres. The MoUs were exchanged on Tuesday at the Startup Conclave 2025 in Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar, in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The agreements mark a major expansion of UNM Foundation's flagship environmental initiative, PRATITI. The civic bodies include Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC), Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation (GMC), Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar Jilla Panchayats, and the Kalol and Mansa Nagar Palikas. Torrent Group Director Jinal Mehta signed the MoUs with Ahmedabad Mayor Pratibhaben Jain, the conglomerate said in a statement. Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and several state ministers were also present at the event. UNM Foundation vice-chairperson Sapna Mehta called the initiative a "significant milestone in the ...
The Central government has released Rs 47,225 crore to the states and union territories under the Smart Cities Mission till November 15 and out of which Rs 44,626 crore has been utilised, the Lok Sabha was informed on Thursday. In a written reply to a question, Union Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Tokhan Sahu said the work orders have been issued till November 15 in 8,066 crore amounting to Rs 1,64,669 crore, of which 7,352 projects (i.e. 91 per cent of total projects) amounting to Rs 1,47,366 crore have been completed under the mission. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (HUA) has a multi-level review structure to expedite the progress of projects under the Smart Cities Mission, said Sahu, adding mission implementation at the state level is monitored by the state level high powered steering committee chaired by the chief secretary. At the national level, the implementation is monitored by an apex committee headed by the HUA secretary, the minister said. The
Pedestrian-friendly roads, smart classes, parks for disabled children, cycling tracks, an intelligent traffic system and rejuvenating water bodies are some of the projects undertaken by authorities in Chennai to transform it under the Smart Cities Mission, according to officials. A suspension bridge with a glass floor over the Villivakkam lake is also among such projects. As part of a pilot project, students of a school run by the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) in the Kottur area have been provided tablets, through which they are taught by their teachers, an official said. If the idea is successful, it will be implemented in other schools as well. Tamil Nadu Additional Chief Secretary and GCC Commissioner J Radhakrishnan said the Smart Cities Mission (SCM) has evoked a lot of enthusiasm among people and that is why the participation is high. The commissioner said that under the mission, Chennai has been doing a number of activities. "Specifically, we have created a command and
Indore on Friday bagged the best "National Smart City Award", followed by Surat and Agra. The central government announced the India Smart Cities Awards for 2022 on Friday. Madhya Pradesh has won the best 'State Award' and Tamil Nadu bagged the second spot. Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh was on the third spot jointly. Chandigarh has been ranked the number one in the Union territory category. Among the 100 smart cities in the country, Indore bagged the top spot, Surat in Gujarat the second place and Agra the third spot. In October last year, Indore was adjudged India's cleanest city for the sixth time in a row. The Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry said that while 66 winners in different categories were announced on Friday, the awards would be presented by President Droupadi Murmu at a ceremony in Indore on September 27.
The country's urban population is likely to double by 2047 and existing structures of administration, planning and financing of urban bodies will have to adapt to changing times, the Centre's Smart City Project Mission Director Kunal Kumar said here on Thursday. Kumar, who is joint secretary in the Union Housing and Urban Affairs department, was in Indore to take part in the Urban20 (U20) programme based on the theme 'Reinventing Urban Governance for Indian Cities'. "By 2047, the country's urban population will almost double. Some 70 per cent of India's gross domestic product (GDP) comes from cities. To make India a developed country by 2047, the contribution of cities to GDP will have to increase," he said. "To get this to increase, we will have to increase investment and employment rapidly," he said, adding that the large number of youth in the country's population was a strength and their migration from villages to cities was not a problem but an opportunity as it accelerates the
/ -- IIITH Smart City Living Lab in partnership with Silicon Labs, a leader in secure, intelligent wireless technology, today launched a campus-wide Wi-SUN network to enable research and solutions for the Internet of Things (IoT) and smart cities. Wi-SUN is an open-standard protocol enabling interoperable solutions through open source software with multi-layer security. Wi-SUN will enable utilities, municipalities, and other enterprises to deploy long-range, low-power wireless mesh networks connecting thousands of IoT nodes. IIITH Smart City Living Lab is setup as an initiative of MEITY (Ministry of Electronics & IT) , National Cities Mission, and Gov of Telangana, with knowledge support from EBTC (European Business Technology Council). Silicon Labs, Intel, and Saint Gobain are the other three founding corporate partners. Professor Ramesh Loganathan said, "The Smart City Living Lab, a year old now, is already a testbed for various start-ups and research. IIITH's campus consists ..