Volume V l Issue 4 Pages 13 www.urbannewsdigest.in `50 / us $5 june 2016

resilientcities 02

smartcities 03

healthycities 04

greencities 05

humanecities 07

connectedcities 06

digitalcities 08

vibrantcities 09

integratedcities 10

workingcities 11

capexcities 12

Posted at NDPSO, New Delhi - 110 002 on 16th and 17th of every month | Date of Publication 10/11 of every month | Postal Registration No. DL(S)-01/3406/2015-17 | RNI No. DELENG/2012/41753

P# 12

World’s tallest timber tower construction underway in Vancouver

P# 11

Telangana spents 2̀400 crore to improve electricity infra

P# 09

Suresh Prabhu launches Tiger Express train on the World Environment Day

P# 08

New & Renewable Energy Minister launches ‘Surya Mitra’ mobile app

P# 07

Prime Minister’s scheme for affordable housing selects 2508 cities

P# 06

India signs trilateral transport agreement with Iran, Afghanistan

P# 05

“Government remains committed to reduce pollution”

P# 04

Environment Minister releases Hazardous Waste Rules 2016

P# 03

Smart cities to have component of children safety, says Naidu

P# 02

NDMA conducts mock exercise on earthquake preparedness

Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently released the National Disaster Management Plan (NDMP). This is the first ever national plan prepared in the country.

It aims to make India disaster resilient and significantly reduce the loss of lives and assets. The plan is based on the four priority themes of the ‘Sendai Framework’, namely: understanding disas-ter risk, improving disaster risk governance, investing in disaster risk reduction (through structural and non-structural measures) and disaster preparedness, early warning and building back bet-ter in the aftermath of a disaster.

The plan covers all phases of disaster management: prevention, mitigation, response and recovery. It provides for horizontal and vertical integration among all the agencies and departments of the Government. The plan also spells out the roles and responsibilities of all levels of Government right up to Panchayat and Urban Local Body level in a matrix format. The plan has a regional approach,

which will be beneficial not only for disaster management but also for development planning.

It is designed in such a way that it can be implemented in a scal-able manner in all phases of disaster management. It also identifies major activities such as early warning, information dissemination, medical care, fuel, transportation, search and rescue, evacuation, etc. to serve as a checklist for agencies responding to a disaster. It also provides a generalised framework for recovery and offers flex-ibility to assess a situation and build back better.

To prepare communities to cope with disasters, it emphasises on a greater need for Information, Education, and Communication activities.

Minister of Home Affairs Rajnath Singh, Minster of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju, and senior officers of the Prime Minis-ter’s Office, Ministry of Home Affairs and National Disaster Man-agement Authority were present during the function.

pm modi releases national disaster management plan

100 iconic places to be cleaned up under Swachh Bharat MissionUnder the Swachh Bharat Mission, it has been decided to undertake a special clean-up initiative focused on 100 iconic heritage, spiritual and cultural places in the country. The list of these 100 places is under discussion and will be finalised soon.

The initiative has been undertaken under the guidance of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation will be the coordinating Ministry for this initiative, in asso-ciation with the Ministry of Urban Development, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Tourism and the concerned State governments.

The aim of this initiative is to make these 100 places model ‘Swachh Tourist Destinations’, that will enhance the experience for visitors from India and abroad. Under Phase 1 of this initiative, the following iconic places have been selected for an intensive clean up:

1) Vaishno Devi: Jammu and Kashmir2) Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus: Maharashtra3) Taj Mahal: Uttar Pradesh4) Tirupati Temple: Andhra Pradesh5) Golden Temple: Punjab6) Manikarnika Ghat: Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh7) Ajmer Sharif Dargah: Rajasthan8) Meenakshi Temple: Tamil Nadu9) Kamakhya Temple: Assam10) Jagannath Puri: OdishaThe lessons and experiences from Phase 1 will be integrated into

the clean-up campaign for the remaining 90 sites. To ensure better coordination with the State teams, a Video Conference was held with

all Chief Secretaries and Secretaries of the relevant Departments of the above recently. The State teams shared the clean-up work that is already underway and listed the key challenges to be faced.

The Secretaries of the Central Ministries expressed full support to the States in terms of technical assistance and also requested the States to converge resources for the clean-up under ongoing Central programmes, such as the Swachh Bharat Mission and the Atal Mis-sion for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT).

The State officials were asked to present a detailed Plan of Action for the clean-up within two weeks.

urban news digest | june 2016 • 2Resilient Cities | diSaSter Mitigation, Safety, Security

Urban News Digest is printed and published by Sanjiv Kumar Agarwal on behalf of Fairfest Media Ltd.

Printed at MP Printers, B-220, Phase -II, NOIDA, UP.

Published at 216 A/1 Gautam Nagar, Gulmohar Park, New Delhi-110 049.

Editor - Sanjiv Kumar Agarwal

No responsibility will be accepted for unsolicited manuscripts and photos received. Despite careful selection of sources, no responsibility can be taken for accuracy.

The Publishers and the Editors do not necessarily individually or collectively identify themselves with the views expressed by respective writers and contributors in this journal. The views expressed are those of the authors only. The magazine assumes no liability or responsibility of any kind in connection with the information thereof.All right reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is strictly prohibited without written permission from the publisher.

Fairfest Media Limited(CIN - U74140WB1988PLC045101)

Head Office216A/1, Gautam Nagar, Gulmohar Park, New Delhi - 110 049 Tel: (91) (11) 2686 6874

Registered Office25C/ 1, Belvedere Road, Alipur,Kolkata 700 027 Tel: (91) (33) 2479 0010-14

Branch OfficesMUMBAI (91) (22) 2637 2883 / 95HYDERABAD (91) (40) 2789 6149 BANGALORE (91) (80) 2676 1598AHMEDABAD (91) (79) 2646 1217...........................................................................Volume V - Issue 4For feedback and information,write in at info@urbannewsdigest.inWeb : www.urbannewsdigest.in

Marketing

DirectorVijay AdhikariAssociate DirectorsNitin TelangRajarshi DeRaj Kapoor SinghR MaheshTarique EbrahimRaminder SinghDeputy General ManagerShreyas JainProject ManagerYC AnilAssistant Project ManagersRamesh ChauhanDeepti V MurthySugandhi Varma

Production

Media DirectorJune Mukherjee

Project ExecutiveGopanjali RoyDisha Roy ChoudhuryChirajit Nath

Design TeamDilip MannaRitam MaityMaruti MoreMrityunjay Kumar

Administration

Managing Director & CFO Rajiv Agarwal

Executive DirectorHarsh Agarwal

Senior Manager - Accounts & FinanceUma Sureka

Editorial

Editor & Publisher Sanjiv Agarwal

Editorial AdvisorV Suresh

Editorial DirectorGazanfar Ibrahim

NDMA conducts mock exercise on earthquake preparednessA mock exercise on earthquake preparedness was con-ducted by the National Disaster Management Author-ity (NDMA) in Faridabad, Haryana for assessing the preparedness and response mechanism of all Govern-ment agencies of the district in the event of a high inten-sity earthquake.

The simulation exercise was conducted simultane-ously at five select locations – Mini Secretariat – Farid-abad, a private hospital (Sarvodaya Hospital), a high-rise residential complex (HEWO flats), a shopping mall (Crown Palace Mall) and Government School (Rajkiya Kanya Varishtha Madhyamik Vidyalaya) to assess and improve the response mechanism to mitigate the impact of a high-intensity earthquake.

NDMA expert Major General V K Dutta (Retd), who led the exercise, briefed about the proceedings of the day. The exercise started with a siren indicating the occur-rence of tremors. Everybody ducked under the tables while covering their heads. After few moments, evacu-ation instructions were issued with strict instructions not to take electrical lift and take the fire escape, and assemble in an open space. Rescue teams were then formed under Incident Commanders and dispatched to the respective locations.

Rescue drills were conducted in coordination with various agencies, such as Traffic Control, Fire Fighting department, Ambulances, Police and Civil Defence. Using various techniques, people buried under the rubble were rescued and sent to hospitals after

administrating preliminary first aid. After the drill, a post-exercise analysis was carried out by NDMA, in which all the district officials, defence personnel and Commissioner of Police took part.

The National Disaster Guidelines significantly focuses on Prevention, Mitigation and Preparedness for a disastrous situation. NDMA regularly conducts such mock exercises throughout the country in its efforts to

improve preparedness and response mechanisms for a given disaster. The mock exercise was part of a three-day event which began with a Coordination Conference followed by a Table-top Exercise. Senior officials from all the important departments such as NDRF, health, police, education, firefighting, Civil Defence, Public Relations, transport, etc from the district attended these preparatory meetings and in the exercise.

MMRDA establishes 24×7 Control Room for monsoonThe Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has set up a Control Room for monsoon which will take round-the-clock follow-up actions on complaints, interact with various Disaster Control Agencies such as State Government, MCGM, Police, etc. and exchange the information and data. The Control Room will be operational up to Septem-ber 30, 2016.

The MMRDA Control Room has been set up with a view to minimising inconvenience to the vehicular and pedestrian traffic at various project sites being implemented by the Authority. The Control Room officials will also ensure the smooth flow of rainwa-ter at various project sites.

“The contractors have been instructed to strictly adhere to the safety measures. They are also asked to stringently follow norms as far as barricading, rein-statement of the damaged road works, clearing and disposal of the muck on the roads is concerned. The contractors will also maintain dewatering pumps of adequate capacity where there is no connectivity to storm water drains and also at the water logging spots,” said Dilip Kawathkar, Joint Project Director (PR), MMRDA.

The Mumbaikars would be able to seek help from the Control Room on various aspects such as uproot-ing of trees, water logging, accidents, traffic snarls, potholes etc. The Control Room officials would also welcome information on unusual occurrences or impending dangers. The Control Room will work in tandem with Railways, Municipal Corporation of

Greater Mumbai, Traffic Police, BEST, Fire Brigade and other agencies,” said Kawathkar further.

MMRDA Control Room can be contacted on the telephone numbers (26591241, 26594176 and mobile

number 08080705051). J R Dhane, Executive Engi-neer, (Mobile 8108190150 and Landline 022-26595933) shall be the In-charge of the Control Room during monsoon, 2016.

urban news digest | june 2016 • 3smart cities | it, gis & gps application, e-governance

A global initiative has been launched by two United Nations entities to advocate for public policy which would promote the use of information and communi-cation technologies (ICTs) as a catalyst for the transi-tion to smart sustainable cities.

The United for Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC), which is the initiative, would assist the response to Goal 11 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): to “make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.”

The initiative, led by the International Telecommu-nication Union (ITU) and the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), is open to all UN agencies, munici-palities, industry, academia and other relevant stake-holders, and would focus on the integration of ICTs in urban operations and build on existing international standards and key performance indicators.

Several UN bodies have expressed their intent to join the Advisory Board of the U4SSC global initiative.

“ICTs have become central to innovation in almost every sphere of social and economic activity, making collaboration essential in maximising the contribution of ICTs to sustainable development,” said ITU Secre-tary-General Houlin Zhao.

“We live in a connected world and we see new fas-cinating markets and products where physical prod-ucts and services and digital technologies merge and move together,” said ECE Executive Secretary Chris-tian Friis Bach.

“The digital revolution can help us create intelligent transport, smart energy systems, resource efficiency and transparent and open societies. It can help us cre-ate sustainable development. However, to achieve this we need trust and predictability, and we need common and neutral standards that can work across borders and technologies,” he added.

The U4SSC was launched at the ITU-ECE Forum on ‘Shaping smarter and more sustainable cities: striving for sustainable development goals’ held in Rome, Italy.

A set of key performance indicators has been pre-sented by ITU and ECE, which they have developed to measure the ‘smartness’ and ‘sustainability’ of cities, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.

Dubai, Singapore, Manizales, Montevideo, Bue-nos Aires, Valencia, Rimini and other selected cities have already agreed to trial these key performance indicators.

The forum ended with the Rome Declaration, which presents a 10-point manifesto for the transition to smart sustainable cities. The declaration promotes the use of internationally agreed key performance indi-cators and technical standards in service of sustainable development objectives in the urban context and high-lights the value of inclusive e-governance models and peer-learning among city leaders.

Smart cities in the country are set to have a compo-nent of children safety which would include their education and health needs, said Urban Develop-ment Minister Venkaiah Naidu. Addressing a cam-paign on Every last Child by Save the Children, an NGO for child rights, Naidu stated that the govern-ment would take feedback from the organisation to make sure the interests of children are incorporated in the smart city planning.

“We will ensure that the interests of the chil-dren are at the core of our plans and designs. I have already given instructions to all our planners in this regard,” the minister said.

“Our government is committed to the Save the Children campaign with a particular focus on street

children. The smart cities will have a component of safety of the children, their education needs and healthcare. Certain cities have already come up with several ideas and will further improve upon them after getting feedback from the campaign also,” he said.

He said in order to ensure the safety of girl child, 4.17 lakh toilets have been built across all the girls schools in the country.

“After the Prime Ministers call, the Centre, State, Urban local body with Panchayat Raj institutions together, we have built 4.17 lakh toilets in all the girls schools across the country,” Naidu added.

Smart cities to have component of children safety, says Naidu

UIDAI launches Special Aadhaar Enrolment drive for Pensioners

un unveils campaign to urge smart transition to sustainable citiesThe Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)

has launched a special enrollment drive for pensioners who are yet to enrol for Aadhaar. The drive is being con-ducted to enable Pensioners to avail the convenience of Jeevan Pramaan, an initiative of Department of Pen-sions and Pensioners’ Welfare, Government of India.

Every year, pensioners need to provide a life certif-icate to an authorised pension disbursing agency such as a Bank, Post office etc., for receipt of a pension. To get a life certificate the pensioner is required to either per-sonally present oneself before the Pension Disbursing Agency or have the Life Certificate issued by the depart-ment/authority where they served earlier and have it delivered to the disbursing agency. This entails consid-erable hardship to the senior Citizens.

Jeevan Pramaan, a digital life certificate which uti-lises the Aadhaar identity platform, addresses this very problem by digitising the whole process of secur-ing a life certificate. A pensioner just needs to biometri-cally authenticate at the nearest centre. After success-ful authentication, the digital life certificate is stored in a Life Certificate Repository, which can be accessed by the Pension Disbursing Authority.

To facilitate pensioners to avail the facility of Jeevan Pramaan, which is based on Aadhaar Identity platform, UIDAI and Department of Pensions and Pensioners’ Welfare have taken initiative to carry out special enrol-ment drive for Pensioners through banks which are Registrars for enrolment for Aadhaar as well as Pen-sion Disbursing Authorities.

The banks which include names like State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Alla-habad Bank, Canara Bank, have also been asked to con-duct special Aadhaar seeding camps where Pension-ers will be requested to provide their Aadhaar details to their respective banks from which they draw pen-sion so that they can get a digital life certificate – Jee-van Pramaan.

The enrolment drive and the Aadhaar seeding camp was run from May 30 to June 10, 2016.

“We hold special enrollment drives to help people who are yet to enrol for Aadhaar. This particular exer-cise has been initiated to make sure pensioners get an Aadhaar number if they still don’t have one and send the Aadhaar details of pensioners so that they can get a Jee-van Pramaan,” said Director General & Mission Direc-tor of UIDAI, Dr Ajay Bhushan Pandey.

So far over 15.41 lakh pensioners have already regis-tered for the Aadhaar-enabled Jeevan Pramaan service.

NDMC to create parallel company to execute smart city projectsThe New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) is set to cre-ate a parallel company to execute all the projects under Smart Cities Mission. Termed a ‘Special Purpose Vehi-cle,’ it is similar to Delhi Metro or the Shahjahanabad Redevelopment Corporation and would evaluate plans and release funds for NDMC’s smart city ideas.

This decision was taken at NDMC’s Council meeting, presided over by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Director (Projects) Neeraj Bharti said, “All the modal-ities and finer details have been ironed out. The SPV’s Articles of Association – which define its constitution, membership and powers – have been charted out.”

“Its board will have 13 directors headed by a CEO. The first line of directors will include NDMC Chairper-son Naresh Kumar; its secretary and financial advisor. Four directors will come from the central government and the state government. The Remaining five will be chosen from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) empanelled list of experts,” said Bharti on the board’s composition.

Additionally, he informed that NDMC’s proposal has already been forwarded to its guardian, the Min-istry of Home Affairs and a state-level High-powered Steering Committee (HPSC) set up under the Smart Cit-ies scheme. “As soon as we get an approval from them, the SPV will be registered under the Companies Act, 2013,” he said.

Bharti, added, “In any case, there has been no let up

on the speed of our projects due to SPV. We have already initiated several of them under the PPP (Public Private Partnership) model, including 24×7 water and electric-ity supply in Lutyen’s Zone, free Wi-Fi facility, smart poles, smart classrooms, etc.”

urban news digest | june 2016 • 4healthy Cities

“The new Hazardous Waste Rules will ensure resource recovery and disposal of hazardous waste in environmentally sound manner. The Rules are envi-ronment and industry-friendly. The provisions of the new Rules are in line with this Government’s prior-ity for Ease of Doing Business and Make in India, but with responsible concerns for sustainable develop-ment,” said Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar, while releasing the HW Rules, 2016.

For the first time, Rules have been made to distin-guish between Hazardous Waste and other wastes. Other wastes include: Waste tyre, paper waste, metal scrap, used electronic items, etc and are recognised as a resource for recycling and reuse. These resources supplement the industrial processes and reduce the load on the virgin resource of the country.

The salient features of Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management &Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016 include the following:-

(i) The ambit of the Rules has been expanded by including ‘Other Waste.’

(ii) Waste Management hierarchy in the sequence of priority of prevention, minimisation, reuse, recy-cling, recovery, co-processing and safe disposal has been incorporated.

(iii) All the forms under the rules for permission, import/export, filing of annual returns, transporta-tion, etc have been revised significantly, indicating the stringent approach for management of such haz-ardous and other wastes with simultaneous simpli-fication of procedure.

(iv) The basic necessity of infrastructure to safe-guard the health and environment from waste pro-cessing industry has been prescribed as Standard Operating Procedure (SOPs), specific to waste type which has to be complied by the stakehold-ers and ensured by SPCB/PCC while granting such authorisation.

(v) Procedure has been simplified to merge all the approvals as a single window clearance for setting up of hazardous waste disposal facility and import of other wastes.

(vi) Co-processing as preferential mechanism over disposal for use of waste as supplementary resource, or for recovery of energy has been provided.

(vii) The approval process for co-processing of hazardous waste to recover energy has been stream-lined and put on emission norms basis rather than on trial basis.

(viii) The process of import/export of waste under the Rules has been streamlined by simplifying the document-based procedure and by revising the list of waste regulated for import/export.

(ix) The import of metal scrap, paper waste and various categories of electrical and electronic equip-ments for re-use purpose has been exempted from the need of obtaining Ministry’s permission.

(x) The basic necessity of infrastructure to safe-guard the health and environment from waste pro-cessing industry has been prescribed as Standard Operating Procedure (SOPs) specific to waste type.

(xi) Responsibilities of State Government for envi-ronmentally sound management of hazardous and

other wastes have been introduced as follows:• To set up/ allot industrial space or sheds for recy-

cling, pre-processing and other utilisation of hazard-ous or other waste.

• To register the workers involved in recycling, pre-processing and other utilization activities.

• To form groups of workers to facilitate setting up such facilities.

• To undertake industrial skill development activ-ities and ensure safety and health of workers.

(xii) State Government is authorised to prepare integrated plan for effective implementation of these provisions, and have to submit annual report to Min-istry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

(xiii) State Pollution Control Board is mandated to prepare an annual inventory of the waste gener-ated; waste recycled, recovered, utilised including co-processed; waste re-exported and waste disposed and submit to the Central Pollution Control Board by September 30 every year.

environment minister releases hazardous waste rules 2016

Bihar government to construct over 7 lakh toilets in next 4 yearsAccording to a senior officer, in order to achieve the target of constructing a toilet in every house-hold, which is an important component of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s ‘seven resolves’ Bihar government plans to build 7,52,863 toilets in the next four years.

To achieve this target, the state government is set to spend of Rs 602 crore, said Principal Secre-tary of Urban Development Department, Chait-nya Prasad.

The Centre would give `4,000 while the state would provide `8,000 for every toilet built, he stated.

“Work is underway for construction of 38,155 toilets. There is a target to build 3 lakh toilets in the financial year 2016-17,” Prasad said.

The Urban Development Department has been entrusted to implement three out of the seven resolves of the Chief Minister, adopted by his min-istry as a policy of governance.

GIS mapping would be conducted simultane-ously in all 69 towns of the state which would be a record in the country, Prasad said, adding after getting the approval of the state Cabinet for Patna Metro, a detailed project report has been sent to the Centre.

india & World Bank signs a loan agreement for urban water supply

The Loan and Project Agreements for World Bank (IBRD) assistance of $100 million for the Karnataka Urban Water Supply Modernisation project were signed between Government of India/Government of Karna-taka and the World Bank.

The Loan Agreement was signed by Raj Kumar, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs on behalf of the Government of India and Michael Haney, Act-ing Country Director, World Bank (India) on behalf of the World Bank. The Project Agreement was signed by V Ponnuraj, Managing Director, Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development & Finance Corporation (KUIDFC) on behalf of the Government of Karnataka, while Michael Haney signed the Project Agreement on behalf of the World Bank.

The objective of the project is to provide city-wide access to continuous piped water supply in the eligi-ble cities in the State of Karnataka and to strengthen the service delivery arrangements at the city level. KUIDFC is the implementing agency for the project. The project would have four broad components: (i) Capital Invest-ment Program; (ii) Institution Building; (iii) Technical Assistance for Sector Development; and (iv) Project Management.

The project would be implemented over a period of six years, initially in the twin cities of Hubballi-Dhar-wad, with provision for other eligible cities to join the project at a later date. Under the project, the Hubballi Dharwad Municipal Corporation has hired a profes-sional water supply operating company for improving the water supply system, as also to manage the refur-bished system through a 12-year contract in accordance with strict performance criteria. The municipality would retain ownership of the water supply assets and control of the service delivery set up. The project would help the Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation set up a city-level water utility that would take over water supply operations from the professional operating company at the end of its contract period. The project would benefit about one million residents of the Hubballi- Dharwad, including estimated 160,000 slum dwellers.

“The Government of India recognises the importance of 24×7 water supply and has made it a Service Level Benchmark for water providers. This project will sup-port the Government of Karnataka’s efforts to provide clean water on a continuous basis and scale up the 24×7 water service to cover all parts of the twin cities of Hub-balli-Dharwad,” said Raj Kumar.

urban news digest | june 2016 • 5 urban news digest | october 2015 • 5gReen Cities

Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Envi-ronment, Forest and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar, has said that the Government has taken pollution seriously. He expressed the government’s commitment to reduce pollution. Addressing the two-day Conference of Chairmen & Member Secre-taries of Pollution Control Boards & Pollution Con-trol Committees, Javadekar proposed the establish-ment of a new Pollution Research Institute to look into all pollution-related aspects. Though, he added that the establishment of the Institute is in a concep-tual stage. He also gave a call for more widespread participation of State Pollution Control Boards and suggested that such Conferences should be held every six months, both at the central and regional level.

The Environment Minister said that the Min-istry’s emphasis would be on establishing a

compliance regime and to send a message that vio-lations would prove to be expensive. Javadekar also stated that the government wants to provide ‘Ease of Doing Responsible Business,’ but pollution-related challenges would have to be addressed.

The Minister said that a discussion on the concept of development without destruction, sustainable

development; discussion on air pollution, industrial pollution, sand mining, pollution of rivers and waste management is a good development, as it increases awareness in the society. He emphasised that there is a need to be more responsive on tackling pollution, as the Ministry’s mission is to maintain a balance between five elements of nature and protect them. He highlighted that for the first time, the Ministry has moved National Green Tribunal (NGT) against five municipalities in Uttar Pradesh for not respond-ing to the directions issued for sewage treatment.

Speaking on the occasion, Chairman, Central Pol-lution Control Board (CPCB), A K Mehta said that the forests and mangroves coverage have increased. He said that online monitoring of polluting indus-trial units and Comprehensive Environment Pollu-tion Index (CEPI) has been revised and a fresh clas-sification of industries has been done.

“government remains committed to reduce pollution”

Micro Solar Dome Surya Jyoti to light up homes without electricityUnion Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sci-ences, Dr Harsh Vardhan, has launched the low cost and environment-friendly solar lighting device, which would prove to be a boon for urban and rural households in the country that do not have reliable access to electricity. The device has been developed under the aegis of the Depart-ment of Science & Technology.

Describing the salient features of the device, the Min-ister said that the potential users of this device are 10 mil-lion households. He further said that according to prelim-inary estimates, if this technology is adopted in 10 million households only, it has the potential of saving 1750 million units of energy. It would also lead to an emission reduc-tion of about 12.5 million ton of CO2 equivalent, hence giv-ing a fillip to the mission of ‘Clean India, Green India.’ The manufacturing process, being labour-intensive, would also generate huge job opportunities in the economy.

Dr Vardhan, while explaining the working of the device, said that the Micro Solar Dome captures sunlight through a transparent semi-spherical upper dome and concentrates it inside a dark room. The light passes through a sun-tube having a thin layer of highly reflective coating on the inner wall of the passage. It also contains a lower dome hav-ing a shutter at the bottom that can be closed if the light is not required in the daytime. It is leak proof and works for almost 16 hours daily i.e. throughout the day and 4 hours

after sunset.The Minister said that the Photo-Voltaic Integrated

Micro Solar Dome costs about Rs 1200 and the Non-Photo-Voltaic version around Rs 500. These cost figures are expected to get further reduced to Rs 900 and Rs 400 respectively post the scaling-up of the manufacturing pro-cess and future linkages with the subsidies under various schemes of the Ministries of Urban Development, Rural Development and Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

The Minister of State for Science and Technology and

Earth Sciences, Y S Choudhary said that this technology would lead to the saving of fossil fuels to a great extent as one unit of energy saved is equivalent to three units of energy generated. He envisaged the corporate sector to play its role under their Corporate Social Responsibilities Schemes for the manufacturing process to scale up. He said that incubation centres are being brought up under the ‘Start up India, Stand up India’ programme which would encourage entrepreneurship in the solar sector to make commercialisation of the device viable.

Environment Ministry to create urban forests in 200 citiesOn the World Environment Day, the Union Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar has highlighted the need for increasing the green cover and protecting wildlife.

“Urban forestry is the new thrust area and we will be taking up massive tree plantation drive in as many as 200 cities and towns across the country,” said Javadekar at a commemorative function organised at the Sanjay Gan-dhi National Park in Borivali, Mumbai. The Environ-ment Ministry will launch the ‘Urban Forestry Scheme’ in Pune, where 6000 saplings will be planted to create an ‘urban jungle’ on about 80 acres of land.

Javadekar observed that in most of our cities there are gardens and parks but no forests. “There are many cit-ies where the forest department has its land but there are no forests on it or are degraded. In these places through people’s participation, we will establish urban forestry,” he added. Stressing that the green mission can succeed only through active people’s participation, the Environ-ment Minister urged the citizens to plant trees take a selfie and share photographs on ‘wedselfie.nic.in’.

Drawing attention to this year’s theme of the World Environment Day – ‘Go Wild For Life’, Javadekar under-lined government’s resolve for the protection of wildlife. He said the Government began this year’s World Envi-ronment Day celebrations by launching Asia’s first Vul-ture Re-introduction Programme at Pinjore in Haryana. Javadekar said, vultures – the true Swachh Bharat vol-unteers – had become endangered since 1990, after eating carcasses of cattle which were injected with Diclofenac – a painkiller drug. “We had more than 4 crore vultures in the country, now not even 4 lakh are left,” he said.

Speaking about wildlife protection, Javadekar asserted that trade in wildlife products should be com-pletely stopped. He said the Government has also ini-tiated proactive measures for the protection of wildlife and informed that ‘shoot at sight’ orders given to armed guards at the Kaziranga National Park in Assam had resulted in the death of 24 poachers. He appealed to the people not to buy any product made from wild animal body parts. “If there is no market for the products, poach-ing will end automatically,” he remarked. The Minister, later symbolically burnt the confiscated wildlife prod-ucts in the open, to send a message to end the wildlife

trafficking.Javadekar said with better understanding and aware-

ness, man and wildlife can live in harmony. He said most of the tribals, who live on the edges of forests, live in har-mony with nature.

On this occasion, the Environment Minister released a leaflet ‘Living With The Leopards’ that lists out prac-tical tips to minimise danger to ourselves. The leaflet is of utmost utility for the residents of North Mumbai sub-urbs adjacent to the Sanjay Gandhi National Park area, where incidents of leopard entering housing colonies are frequently reported.

urban news digest | june 2016 • 6ConneCted Cities

India, Iran and Afghanistan have signed the Trilat-eral Transport and Transit Corridor Agreement dur-ing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Iran.

“The Agreement on the establishment of a Tri-lateral Transport & Transit Corridor can alter the course of history of this region,” said PM Modi.

Modi likened this alignment of the three neigh-bours to India’s west as ushering in an “arc of pros-perity in Asia” as a whole.

“We wanted to prove that geography is not our destiny. With our will we can change geography,” said Ashraf Ghani, President of Afghanistan, refer-ring to the long envisioned multimodal sea-land route.

One part of the trilateral agreement would include the construction of Chabahar-Zahedan railway line (a bilateral initiative between India and Iran’s infra-structure development companies). The trilateral agreement would turn the Iranian port city of Cha-bahar into a major transit hub.

Talking about the importance of the earlier

signed Chabahar Agreement that also includes the construction of a corridor between Chabahar port and Zahedan, Iran President Hassan Rouhani stated that the day would henceforth be called the Chaba-har Day.

He noted that with the joint investments between the three countries, “we can connect India to Afghanistan, Central Asia and Europe.”

Modi added that this corridor “will be a corridor of peace and prosperity.”

India signs trilateral transport agreement with Iran, Afghanistan

Waitlist passengers on Rajdhani to get Air India flight upgradeWait-listed passengers of Rajdhani trains would be provided with the option of taking an Air India flight to their destination by paying marginally extra.

Air India and IRCTC have already entered into a pact for the proposed arrangement, informed the Air India Chairman and Managing Director Ash-wani Lohani.

As per the proposed arrangement, people who have unconfirmed tickets across classes on Rajdhani trains would have the choice of boarding an Air India flight provided the airline has services in the partic-ular train route chosen by the passenger. Air India tickets would be offered to such passengers through IRCTC.

The wait-listed passengers of AC First Class of Rajdhani trains do not need to pay any additional amount in case they decide to take an Air India flight. However, in the case of those booked on Rajdhani Second and Third AC classes, the passengers would have to pay up to Rs 2,000 per ticket as an additional amount for flying Air India, Lohani stated.

“The option will be provided depending on the availability of seats. If an aircraft has 10 vacant seats, we would offer them on a first-come-first-serve basis,” Lohani added.

Meanwhile, Air India is working on an ambitious expansion plan to operate more number of smaller aircraft in various states as they look to increase regional air connectivity.

Air India’s wholly-owned subsidiary Air Alliance plans to increase the number of ATRs in its fleet to 35 in the next four years. Currently, the airline has seven ATRs in its fleet, including two ATR-42 which are to be phased this fiscal. It expects to have at least 18 ATR-72 planes by March 2017.

Lohani along with senior officials held deliber-ations with representatives from at least 16 states, most of whom also expressed willingness to pro-vide viability gap funding to the carrier.

“Several state governments have asked Air India to look at launching virgin routes connecting differ-ent cities in their respective states,” Lohani said after the meeting.

Kishangarh Airport is expected to be operational by July 2017The new airport at Kishangarh being developed to cater to the historical city of Ajmer is expected to become operational by July of next year for which air-lines have expressed interest to operate flights from Mumbai and Delhi.

Situated in the biggest marble market of Kishan-garh, construction work in the airport building is most likely to complete in December following which the process for DGCA approval to commission the air-port would begin and inspection by teams of air safety directorate would take place, Airport in-charge San-jeev Jindal said.

Jindal said nearly 85% of the civil and electrical work of the terminal building, which would have the capacity to handle 200 passengers at a time, has been completed and the 2000 metre long runway has also been constructed.

In 2013, 441 acres of land was handed over for the project but possession of 69 acres of land is still pend-ing owing to compensation issue to be handled by the state government.

“Series of meetings took place with the state gov-ernment and the district administration to resolve the issue and hopefully the piece of the land will be handed over in coming days,” he said. “Because of this issue, we are not able to install important equipment and communication set up. So far, runway of the length of

2 km and 60% of the boundary wall along with perim-eter road has been completed.”

The project includes main terminal building which is being constructed to handle small aircraft operation, technical block, fire tower, Air Traffic Control Tower, electric substation, rainwater harvesting, sewerage treatment plant, horticulture and tree plantation.

“After the construction of the infrastructure, approval of Bureau of Civil Aviation Security and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation is required. This has been targeted to receive by July 2017 thereafter the commercial operations will begin,” he added.

The airport is near NH-11 and is at a distance of 25km from the city of Ajmer.

Cabinet nods extension of corridor-1 of Chennai Metro Rail ProjectThe Union Cabinet under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given its ex-post facto approval to the proposal for Chennai Metro Rail Phase-I Project from Washermanpet to Wimconagar. It cov-ers a length of 9.051 km at a total cost of Rs 3770 crore.

The project will be executed by the existing SPV of Government of India and the Government of Tamil Nadu having 50:50 equity of each i.e. Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. The project is scheduled to be completed by March 2018.

This extension will provide improved access to pub-lic transport for a dense population comprising pre-dominantly industrial workers to move towards the central business district of the city for work.

In the total project cost, Government of India’s (Gol) share will be Rs 713 crore and Government of Tamil Nadu’s (GoTN) share will be Rs 916 crore. The share of GoTN included the cost of Land and R&R of Rs 203 crore. The balance amount of Rs 2141 crore will be met from a loan from multilateral/bilateral/domestic fund-ing agency.

The estimated ridership will be 1.6 lakh passengers per day in the first year of operation.

urban news digest | june 2016 • 7humane Cities

Under ‘Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana,’ (PMAY) as many as 2,508 cities from 26 states have been selected for pro-viding affordable houses to the urban poor.

“As on April 25, 2016, a total of 2,508 cities of 26 states have been identified as selected for Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Housing for all (Urban) Mission,” said Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu.

He said according to the scheme guidelines, the houses under the PMAY (U) mission should be designed and constructed to meet the requirement of structural safety against earthquakes, flood, cyclone, landslide etc conforming to the National Building Code and other rel-evant Bureau of Indian Standards Codes.

The mission also consists of a technology sub-mis-sion to assist state technologies for adoption of layout designs and building plans suitable for various geo-climatic zones and to deploy disaster resistant and

environment friendly technologies.The scheme aims to construct more than two crore

houses across the nation within a span of seven years. The scheme, which was started in 2015, is set to con-clude in 2022.

The target beneficiaries of the scheme would be the

poor and the people living under EWS and LIG catego-ries in urban establishments of the country.

Naidu also added that it is the primary responsibil-ity of the state governments to provide shelter for the urban homeless people.

To complement and supplement the efforts of the state and UTs, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Pov-erty Alleviation is implementing a scheme namely ‘Shel-ter for Urban Homeless’ as a component of Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Urban Livelihoods Mis-sion for providing permanent shelters with basic facil-ities to urban homeless.

As per the information received from the states and UTs, a total of 770 shelters have been sanctioned by states and UTs with a capacity of about 38,770 inmates. Out of this, 270 shelters with a total capacity of about 11,900 inmates are operational, he said.

prime minister’s scheme for affordable housing selects 2508 cities

Govt to invest `4 lakh crore to build affordable homes: V NaiduVenkaiah Naidu, Minister of Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, recently stated that to make affordable houses available, the government will be investing ̀ 4 lakh crore in its tenure.

In the next two years, the “government is going to invest `4 lakh crore for affordable housing in its ten-ure,” he said. He also said that the government has also invited private sector companies to participate and invest in developing the affordable housing sector.

Earlier this year, the government said it will be building nearly 3 crore affordable houses in rural areas under its ambitious Housing for All 2022 scheme.

A Union Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi said that nearly ̀ 81,975 crore will be needed as investment to built one crore houses in the first three years of the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojna-Gramin under which it will provide financial assistance of ̀ 1.20 lakh to those living in plain areas and `1.30 lakh to those in “hilly and difficult” areas.

The Union Cabinet had in June last year approved the launch of the ‘Housing for All by 2022’

programme for the rehabilitation of slum-dwellers and promotion of affordable housing for the urban

poor, targeting to provide nearly 20 million houses over seven years.

India’s first media platform for urban development stakeholders

NOW ONLINE

follow us www.urbannewsdigest.in

For regular newsletters, email: info@urbannewsdigest.in

urban news digest | june 2016 • 8digital Cities

Piyush Goyal, Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy has launched the ‘Surya Mitra’ mobile app at the National Workshop on Rooftop Solar Power. The GPS based mobile app has been developed by National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE) which is an autonomous institution of Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE).

The ‘Surya Mitra’ mobile app is currently avail-able in Google play store, which can be downloaded and used across India. This App is a high end tech-nology platform which can handle thousands of calls simultaneously and can efficiently monitor all visits of Suryamitra’s. The trained Suryamitra’s who opts for entrepreneurship have joined in the mobile app in several states. These Suryamitras are once again sensitised by NISE on soft skills Customer Rela-tions Management, Punctuality and are now ready to deliver the services.

This innovative mobile approach shall enhance the employment of trained youth in solar PV technol-ogy and also improve the businesses of solar entre-preneurs because of quality servicing, maintenance

and repairing professionals are now available to cus-tomers at the click of a button on their mobiles.

Under NABARD scheme of Off grid Solar PV sys-tem few lakhs of off-grid systems have been installed and systems do require regular maintenance. To keep the system in good condition skilled manpower is required; therefore, the proposed technical platform of Suryamitra mobile app can be utilised for this pur-pose too. MNRE has an ambitious target of installing 100,000 solar PV pumps in several states. Suryami-tra mobile app would come handy with respect to O & M, Repair and maintenance of solar pumps. Simi-larly, millions of Square metre of solar water heater systems are already installed in various states. In order to maintain the existing system and to install new systems properly, Suryamitra app would be very useful.

Overall this technical platform is very useful in the field of renewable energy to serve customers at their doorsteps with quality installation, repair, and O&M services. Suryamitras with the help of NISE ensure standard functioning and servicing of Solar

PV and thermal systems to all customers. NISE has checks and controls in place to ensure that all Sury-amitras offer quality service at reasonable price to their customers. NISE has fixed a price ̀ 150 per visit as visiting charges for Suryamitra services and for installation and O&M charges Suryamitra’s would charge standard charges as per MNRE advised rates. It is hoped that Suryamitra mobile app would act as

an effective catalyst in creating demand for solar products in the country and in offering employment and business opportunities for Suryamitras.

new & renewable energy minister launches surya mitra mobile app

BDA’s one-stop app for Bhubaneswar smart cityAfter being voted as the smartest city in the coun-try, the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) is taking steps to provide IT-backed ser-vices to the citizens. The BDA, taking its cue from Singapore, has planned to launch a mobile applica-tion called Bhubaneswar One which would enable citizens to know everything about the city. From locations of hotels, healthcare centres and govern-ment offices to getting online services provided to the citizens, the app would provide everything. The app is being developed in cooperation with the BDA and the National Informatics Centre Services Inc (NICSI), which is a central government-owned department.

The project is set to be implemented under Smart City Mission and the BDA has released ̀ 2.49 crore to the NICSI to develop the software for the app. The BDA is planning to make the app public by June-end, informed BDA sources.

“Before conceptualizing the app, we had several rounds of discussion with the NICSI. We also stud-ied the working of Singapore’s app ‘one map’ and got to learn a few intricacies. Bhubaneswar One will be made far more effective,” said BDA plan-ning member Sudhiranjan Mohanty.

Android-based smartphone users could also avail the services. The app would have features such as search locations, bus, train and flight schedules, programmes in the city, ideal tourist destinations, the address of hospitals and doctors, ambulance

facilities, parks and playgrounds, library, shopping malls and markets.

“We have asked all the departments concerned to provide us with the relevant data so that they can be uploaded to the app. Tourism, works, BMC, health and other departments have been asked to share the data,” Mohanty added.

While the government is taking smart moves to help citizens, two city-based International Institute of Information Technology passouts have devel-oped an app to help people locate dustbins and toilets in cities of the country. Initially, they have uploaded the information about Bhubaneswar, Puri, Cuttack and Chennai.

Bengaluru launches ITS for smarter bus operationIn an effort to make bus operations smarter, Bengaluru has launched the Intelligent Transport System (ITS). The ITS, billed as the first of its kind in India, is a system

to keep track of buses and to help the commuter know just how long that wait at the bus stop would be.

6,400 buses have been fitted with Vehicle Tracking

Systems. There are also Electronic Ticketing Systems that along with the tracking devices assist in giving inputs to the Passenger Information Systems which provide clear and up to date information to the com-muter. With the ITS, a bus can be located anytime, anywhere.

Managing Director of the Bengaluru Metropoli-tan Transport Corporation, Dr Ekroop Caur said, “We can know the exact location of the bus, what time it has left the depot, what time it has finished a particu-lar trip, how many tickets have been issued… Based on the inputs – we throw up the expected time of arrival of buses. So at all the important bus stands in Bangalore, we have a display board which shows that which bus in what route number will be arriving in how many min-utes. The same information is also now available on a mobile app called BMT.”

Karnataka Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah formally inaugurated the system.

“In the Monitoring Centre, all 6,400 buses can be located as to where they are… If there is any accident or breakdown etc such issues can be spotted on one sys-tem through this Intelligent Transport System and can be solved by having a look at the monitor,” the chief min-ister said.

urban news digest | june 2016 • 9vibRant Cities

In terms of Budget Announcement 2016-17, Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu flagged off the inaugural run of the Tiger Trail Circuit Train from Delhi Safdarjung Station. Suresh Prabhu who was on tour to Mumbai flagged off this train through video conferenc-ing between Mumbai and Delhi.

Several dignitaries were present on this occasion at both the ends of this remote flagging off the pro-gramme. At Delhi Safdarjung Railway Station end Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Science and Tech-nology & Earth Sciences, Meenakshi Lekhi, Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha), Janardhan Dwivedi, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) and Karan Singh Tanwar, Vice-Chairman NDMC were the distinguished guests present on the occasion. Railway officials present at the Safdarjung Station were Member Traffic, Railway Board, Mohammad Jamshed, Member Staff, Pradeep Kumar, Member Mechanical, Hemant Kumar, Mem-ber Electrical, A K Kapoor, Finance Commissioner Rail-ways, S Mukherjee, General Manager, Northern Rail-way, A K Puthia and Divisional Railway Manager, Delhi, Arun Arora and Other Senior Officers of Railway Board and Northern Railway.

The launch of this Tiger Express on World Environ-ment Day is to highlight the significance of environment in our lives. The Railway Minister took a personal inter-est in conceptualising this train. This tourist train will be operated by Indian Railway PSU namely Indian Rail-way Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC).

The train with 5 days/6 nights itinerary will start from Delhi Safdarjung railway station and travel via Katani, Jabalpur, Bandhavgadh, Kanha. The semi-luxury train will take the guests onboard to the world famous Bandhavgarh and Kanha National Parks in Madhya Pradesh. In addition, the trip will also take tourists to Dhuadhar Waterfall in Bedhaghat near Jabalpur.

Speaking on the occasion, the Railway Minis-ter Suresh Prabhu said that Indian Railways is fully

committed to address environmental issues. Suresh Prabhu pointed out that, he on assuming charge took the initiative of creating a separate, dedicated Environ-ment Directorate in the Ministry of Railways. He said that the Railway Ministry is taking several measures with a view to be more environmental friendly. Refer-ring to the Tiger Express which was launched Suresh Prabhu said that tiger is at the apex of the food chain which has a tremendous ecological impact and hence it is befitting to launch a train focused on this sub-ject. Suresh Prabhu announced that Indian Railways through its PSU IRCTC will launch more tourist circuit trains like elephant circuit, desert circuit, etc.

The launch of the ‘Tiger Express’ is in tune with the announcement in this regard in the Railway Bud-get 2016-17. The objective of the train is to create aware-ness about our national animal, the Tiger. The ‘Tiger Express’ is one of the most innovative tourism products ever launched by Indian Railways.

The Indian Tiger has always allured tourists from both India and abroad. The semi-luxury train will take the guests onboard to the world famous Bandhavgarh and Kanha National Parks in Madhya Pradesh.

The Kanha National Park is known for the presence of tigers, Swamp Deer, and the Barasingha. It is also recognised as the source of inspiration for the famous writer Rudyard Kipling for his famous novel, ‘The Jun-gle Book’.

The most important objective of the train is to create and spread awareness about the wildlife in general and the tiger in particular. An added attraction of the trip is a visit to the famous Dhuadhar Falls in Bhedaghat, Jabalpur.

IRCTC has been designated to execute the entire itin-erary. They have been efficiently conducting a variety of tour programmes like the ‘Desert Circuit’ in Rajasthan and the ‘Heritage Circuit’ in North India. This is for the first time that Indian Railways have forayed into the exciting and fascinating wildlife tourism.

The itinerary has been chalked out in a manner that the guests not only enjoy a comfortable travel but also spend considerable time of the trip in the midst of Nature. The package includes journey by the exclusive semi luxury air conditioned train, accommodation in air-conditioned rooms of three star equivalent hotels for three nights (one night in Bandhavgarh and two nights in Kanha in Mogli Resorts), sightseeing and road trans-portation by AC vehicles, buffet meals, game safaris, inter-city transfers and travel insurance.

This is also the first semi-luxury train on a tourist circuit having a dining car. The objective behind it is to facilitate frequent interactions among travellers during the travel. No other semi-luxury train is equipped with a dining car.

The itinerary has a tariff structure starting from Rs 38,500. For travelling in 1AC, the tariff has been fixed at Rs 49,500 for single occupancy, Rs 45,500 for double occupancy, Rs 44,900 for triple occupancy and Rs 39,500 for a child with bed (5-11 years).

The fares for those travelling in AC 2-tier is Rs 43,500 for single occupancy, Rs 39,000 for double occupancy, Rs 38,500 for triple occupancy and Rs 33,500 for a child with bed (5-11 years).

However, these rates are valid for Indian citizens only. An additional surcharge of Rs 4,000 per person will be charged from foreigners for the Safari booking at Bandhagarh and Kanha.

suresh prabhu launches tiger express train on the world environment day

Gujarat plans special cell for heritage tourism

Heritage council to restore Shekhawati havelis in rajasthan

Soon a heritage cell or a special cell, which would address issues relating to heritage tourism in Guja-rat, may be put in place by the state tourism depart-ment, after members of the Heritage Hotels Associ-ation-Gujarat (HHAG) recently met with Principal Secretary (Tourism) S J Haider and were assured of the same.

The association, comprising of erstwhile royal families, entrepreneurs and owners with heritage properties, has a total of 32 members currently – who have heritage properties including operational and non-operational ones in the state.

Around 23 members attended the 33rd meeting of the association held in Ahmedabad which was marked by the absence of any tourism department official. Speaking on the sidelines of the meeting, Harendrapal Sinh who owns Darbargadh Poshina in Sabarkantha said, “Close to 7-8 of our members recently met with the tourism secretary SJ Haider and he has shown interest in forming a heritage cell or a special cell to address issues of heritage prop-erties. Currently, there is no authority to classify heritage properties and the guidelines for them

are not spelled out. We want soft loans and a ded-icated or nodal officer to interact with the associa-tion on a monthly or bi-monthly basis. We are cur-rently readying a common portal for listing all our properties and are also coming up with a common brochure listing all member properties together for wider promotion.”

The association members had also made a written representation to S J Haider and raised seven vital points which includes amending (tourism) policy draft to classify heritage properties differently from normal tourism projects, notification of heritage

properties & future single window assistance, repre-sentation of heritage hotel owners in local bodies like zilla parishad committees and in policy making for rural communities, signages and approach road to heritage hotels, representation from tourism depart-ment in meets held by the association, inclusion of heritage properties on tourism maps of state, repre-sentation of association members in policy framing committees- related to culture and tourism.

Somraj Singh Jhala from Sayla added that although rural tourism and heritage tourism need to be promoted in the state, the Gujarat government also needs to address needs of heritage properties many of which are between 200 to 400 years old and cannot be clubbed with other hotels and resorts.

“Our business is seasonal and we are not oper-ational several months in a year. Due to this the Return on Investment (ROI) on our properties is less. So since heritage hotels operate under differ-ent conditions and employ local people, the govern-ment should enable soft loans with sufficient ges-tation period and a moratorium on loans, for us,” he said.

The Local Self Government (LSG) department would soon constitute a Heritage Development Council to preserve and restore ancient havelis in the Shekhawati region of Rajasthan.

The council would work towards conservation, regulation and maintenance of heritage structures and private havelis in the region. A senior official said that a draft of rules has been prepared and send to Urban Development and Housing (UDH) minis-ter Rajpal Singh for final approval.

Explaining the functions of the council, an offi-cial said, “The council will identify and prepare list and databank of heritage assets in the region. It will further make recommendations to the state government for declaration of heritage assets as

protected and regulated area in respect of pro-tected heritage asset under these rules. The coun-cil will also acquire rights in heritage assets by way of purchase, lease, gift or bequest for the purpose of conservation.”

The council would also enter into agreements with private persons for the conservation of heri-tage assets vested in the state government.

Additionally, a fund known as Shekhwati Region Heritage Development Fund would be established by the council. The state government would pay the heritage funds by way of grants. The council would also prepare an annual report giving full account of its activities during the previous financial year and its plans for the forthcoming year.

Shekhawati is located in northern Rajasthan, consisting of districts like Jhunjhunu, Sikar, Churu and Nagaur. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Marwari merchants constructed these grand havelis in the region, which are a major tourist attractions.

Following the formulation of rules, the state government by notification in the official gazette, would constitute a council. “The divisional com-missioner will be the president of the committee. There is also a possibility that the state government could appoint a president. Other than this, district collector and municipal officers will be part of the council.”

“The decision to create a conservation council for Shekhawati was taken as the area has made a mark on the world map. The Jhunjhunu region which has many heritage havelis is also close to the national capital and it could attract tourism,” said an official.

urban news digest | june 2016 • 10

A team of experts from Germany recently met the Nagar Nigam officials to discuss a possible part-nership in projects related to stormwater man-agement, renewable energy, and others. The Ger-man government has shortlisted four Indian cities including Dehradun out of which two will be selected to receive technical support from Ger-many which might also include funding. The team is from an NGO known as German Cooperation which is backed by United Nations.

The coordinating organisation between the German team and Dehradun Municipal Cooper-ation is ICLEI South Asia and has been doing the background work for finding out the areas which need technical expertise in the city. After a careful study, it was found that four areas in the city – Raj-pur, Ajabpur, Mata Mandir Road and Rest Camp are most vulnerable.

Rahul Singh, Senior Project Officer, ICLEI South Asia said, “Our primary aim is to prepare the city resilience strategy and to study the urban systems which become fragile. The climatic change also adds another layer of fragility which can hap-pen because of something like increase or decrease in temperature. We will essentially identify some interventions to improve the existing urban sys-tem so climate change in future will not impact the people and keep the urban systems in mind we have found 4 areas to be the most fragile.”

The four shortlisted Indian cities are Surat, Rajkot, Dehradun and Warangal in which sur-veys have been conducted to isolate the fragile urban systems. Elaborating further on the sub-ject, Mayor Vinod Chamoli stated, “The surveys conducted by ICLEI were the first phase of this

plan and the today was the second phase where the experts visited our city. The main areas that need work are solid waste management, storm water drainage, renewable energy and wastewa-ter management. Out of these four areas, it’s the waste water management in which we are totally lagging behind since India doesn’t have this sys-tem in practice anywhere and for all of these

problem areas the international experts will provide us technical support for capacity build-ing.” He also mentioned that although at present the objective is to get technical know-how, there is also a possibility of funding from the foreign sources if needed. ICLEI is also giving DMC 30 lakh for the solid waste management project in Dehradun.

Dehradun urban systems to get help from international experts

Send To:

FAIRFEST MEDIA LTD216 A/1 Gautam Nagar, Gulmohar Park

New Delhi 110049Tel: (91) (11) 2686 6874

For Subscription Enquiries:info@urbannewsdigest.in

SUBSCRIPTION FORM

12 ISSUES ̀600/- ̀500/- ̀100/-REGULAR YOU SAVE

PARTICULARS (Please attach Business Card*)

FULL NAME (MR/MS/MRS/DR):

OCCUPATION:

DESIGNATION:

COMPANY NAME:

COUNTRY:

EMAIL:

MOBILE: TEL:

SIGNATURE: (*) mandatory

REGULAR USERS MAY AVAIL PAID SUBSCRIPTION AT A DISCOUNT

YES ! I want to Subscribe Cost per copy ̀ 50/-

FULL NAME (MR/MS/MRS/DR):

FULL ADDRESS:

AMOUNT

CHEQUE NO./DD NO. / CASH

DATED All cheques/ DD payable to Fairfest Media Ltd

TERMS & CONDITIONS: This is a limited period offer | Allow 5-6 weeks for processing of your subscription | Orders once placed will not be terminated or transferred | Replacements will be made upon receipt of the damaged copy within one week of delivery.

OFFER

integRated Cities

urban news digest | june 2016 • 11SpecialFeatures woRking Cities

The Telangana government, in order to provide uninter-rupted power supply, has spent ̀ 2,400 crore to improve the electricity infrastructure, said state Minister K T Rama Rao.

The money has been spent by the state government for establishment of electricity sub-stations, erecting transformers and laying electricity lines in the state.

KTR inaugurated a 132/33 KV Electricity Sub Station at at Chippala palli village in the district.

“The Telangana government is committed to provide uninterrupted power supply in the state,” he said.

Meanwhile, KTR along with state Power Minister and SC and ST welfare Minister G Jagadishwar Reddy and Transport Minister P Mahender Reddy inaugu-rated ‘integrated social welfare hostel for boys’ in Mus-tabad mandal.

telangana spents `2,400 crore to improve electricity infra

new un report urging new agenda for resilient, sustainable citiesWhile cities have emerged over the past 20 years as the world’s economic platforms for production and innovation, helping millions escape poverty through better jobs and improved quality of life, mass urban-isation has also led to overcrowding, deepened inequalities and triggered a raft of environmental and health challenges, according to a new United Nations report.

The dramatic shift towards urban life has pro-found implications for energy consumption, politics, food security and human progress, says the inaugu-ral edition of the World Cities Report, compiled by the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-HAB-ITAT), which stresses that although some of this change is positive, poorly planned urbanisation can potentially generate economic disorder, congestion, pollution and civil unrest.

On the theme, ‘Urbanisation and Development: Emerging Futures,’ the report presents an analysis of the urban development of the past 20 years and reveals, with compelling evidence, that there are new forms of collaboration and cooperation, plan-ning, governance, finance and learning that can sus-tain positive change.

While noting that two-thirds of the global popula-tion are expected to live in cities by 2030 and produce as much as 80% of the global gross domestic product (GDP), the report unequivocally demonstrates that the current urbanisation model is unsustainable in many respects.

In the run up to HABITAT III – shorthand for the major global summit formally known as the UN Con-ference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Develop-ment, set to be held in Quito, Ecuador, on 17-20 Octo-ber 2016 – the report conveys a clear message that the pattern of urbanisation needs to change to bet-ter respond to the challenges of our time, to address

issues such as inequality, climate change, informal-ity, insecurity, and unsustainable forms of urban expansion.

UN-Habitat Executive Director, Dr Joan Clos, said, “In the 20 years since the Habitat II conference, the world has seen a gathering of its population in urban areas. This has been accompanied by socio-economic growth in many instances. But the urban landscape is changing and with it, the pressing need for a cohe-sive and realistic approach to urbanisation.

“A ‘New Urban Agenda’ is required to effectively address the challenges and take advantage of the opportunities offered by urbanisation,” said Clos. As the urban population increases, the land area occu-pied by cities is increasing at a higher rate. It is pro-jected that by 2030, the urban population of develop-ing countries will double while the area covered by cities could triple.

Such urban expansion is wasteful in terms of land and energy consumption and increases greenhouse gas emissions. The urban centre of gravity— at least for megacities, has shifted to the developing regions. In 1995, there were 22 large cities and 14 megacities globally; by 2015, both categories of cities had dou-bled, with 22, or 79% of the megacities located in Latin America, Asia and Africa. The fastest growing urban centres are the medium and small cities with less than one million inhabitants, which account for 59% of the world’s urban population.

Noting that urbanisation provides a great oppor-tunity to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the report warns that while in some cities, for some people, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s “urban renaissance” is occurring, for most of the world this is absolutely not the case.

“Urban policy failure has been spectacular in its visibility and devastating in its impacts on men,

women and children in many cities,” says the report, stressing that there are too many people living in poor quality housing without adequate infrastruc-ture services such as water, sanitation, and elec-tricity, without stable employment, reliable sources of income, social services, or prospects for upward social mobility.

“Prosperity was once described as a tide that raised all boats, but the impression today is that prosperity only raises all yachts,” the report underscores, setting out the key elements of a comprehensive approach to a ‘New Urban Agenda’ which must be bold, forward-looking, and tightly focused on problem-solving with clear means of implementation.

For the new Agenda to take hold, governments, international organisations, bilateral aid and civil society must recognise the transformative power of cities and their unique capacity to generate new forms of economy, with greater sensitivity to the environ-ment, culture, and social life. Moreover, the report argues that for governments, “adopting urban pol-icies means that they accept that the world consists not just of national macro-economies, but also of urban areas, with many different sizes, forms and characters.”

“This is why today we stand at a Galilean moment. The Earth is not flat. It is urban. If we do not recog-nise that the settlement down the road is related to where we live, we shall all suffer, and unnecessar-ily so,” warns the report’s final chapter, urging global political leaders to recognise that the world is very different than it was 30 years ago – that the challenges facing our cities “are footprints of our future, warning us of the world to come and imploring us to do better.

“It is for the Habitat III conference to steer the ‘emerging futures’ of our cities on to a sustainable, prosperous path,” the report concludes.

Bengaluru Blueprint to set goals, deadlines and achieve themThe newly formed Bengaluru Vision Group (BVG), also referred to as the Bengaluru Blue Print Action Group (BBPAG) intends to evolve a shared vision for Bengaluru and quantify goals for improving quality of life for its citizens in different sectors.

As per Bengaluru Blueprint, prepared by Janaa-graha, an NGO, the idea is to create roadmaps for mea-surable annual milestones, assign clear ownership for each sector and theme so that projects and reforms can be implemented.

The blueprint is an outcome of consultations with over 70 eminent citizens across groups, including min-isters/MLAs, mayor, heads of civic agencies, senior bureaucrats and members of resident welfare associ-ations. However, the blueprint would only serve as an input to the vision group. The final vision and road-maps would have to be drawn sector-wise once the group begins functioning.

Srikanth Viswanathan, coordinator (advocacy, research and capacity building) at Janaagraha said, “The process of preparing the Bengaluru Blueprint was facilitated by Janaagraha and Jana Urban Space Foundation. It was a collaborative effort involving various stakeholders to bring about transformative changes to the city. The action group will now have to come up with specific models that reflect the views and opinions of a variety of Bengalureans. The same

have to be led and implemented by the Karnataka government.”

“The new group is best positioned to deliver such a change as reflected in its intent, leadership and com-position. The government or civic agencies alone can-not fix the city’s woes owing to their sheer complexity and scale. Bengaluru can redeem itself only through a unique, unprecedented partnership between govern-ment and civil society. The BBPAG could serve as the platform to catalyse such a partnership,” he added.

Another key action point in the blueprint would be establishing clear ownership for the issues and prob-lems plaguing the city. “For example, if we take pot-holes, there will be one government representative who will be put at the helm of affairs and one or more non-official members with domain expertise will be attached to monitor the goals set for him or her. By doing so, we can achieve targets by setting short and long-term goals,” said an urban expert associated with preparing blueprint. “One of the primary reasons behind having prominent citizens and urban experts on board is to speed up decision making,” he added.

urban news digest | june 2016 • 12 Capex

Construction is currently underway in Vancouver for the world’s tallest timber tower by Acton Ostry Archi-tects. The 18-story Brock Commons Student Resi-dence at the University of British Columbia, which began construction in November of 2015, is set to be completed in the summer of 2017. At a height of 53 meters, with housing for 404 students, it would be the tallest mass wood hybrid building in the world. The structure’s two freestanding concrete cores would be completed soon, after which, the erection of the mass wood structure would take place.

The $51.5 million project is being completed with Architekten Hermann Kaufmann of Austria as tall wood advisors, Fast + Epp as structural engineers, GHL Consultants Ltd as science and building code consultants, and Structurlam as the provider of the mass timber package.

The building’s construction consists of a one story concrete podium, the two concrete cores presently

under construction, and 17 stories of mass timber topped with a prefabricated steel beam and metal deck roof. Lateral stability is provided by the cores, while vertical loads are carried by the timber struc-ture. The building’s glulam columns are fitted with steel connectors which provide a direct load trans-fer between the columns and a grid of cross-lami-nated timber (CLT) panels, allowing the building to

meet new seismic design requirements for the 2015 National Building Code of Canada.

After the completion of the concrete cores, it is projected that the mass wood hybrid structure and facade would be erected at a rate of at least one floor per week. Speed is being achieved by use of pre-fabricated materials, including the CLT slab pan-els, glulam columns, steel connectors, and facade elements.

The building, which has been designed to target LEED Gold certification, would tap into the UBC dis-trict energy system, and by employing a carbon-trap-ping wood construction, it would have a carbon ben-efit of 2,563 tonnes (the equivalent of taking 490 cars off the road for a year). The hope is that once Brock Commons is completed and able to be studied, British Columbia’s building codes for tall wood structures would be revised and mass wood construction would become more common.

world’s tallest timber tower construction underway in vancouver

Portland tiny house that rotates to follow the sunPortland-based Path Architecture has recently com-pleted a very tiny house called 359. The home comprises generous glazing and has been set on a manually-oper-ated rotating base, which allows it to easily follow (or indeed face away from) the sun, warming the interior naturally and providing plenty of natural light.

The tiny house measures 12 x 12 ft (3.6 x 3.6 m) and covers a total of 144 sq ft (13 sq m) of floorspace split over two levels, with a large glazed section and access at the front.

The interior features high ceilings that help it feel larger than it is, and includes a kitchen, lounge area and toilet with shower on the ground floor while stairs lead to a small sleeping area. A single small heater keeps the house warm.

Path Architecture’s Benjamin Kaiser said that the home has been installed on a property in Portland. It was originally intended as a fully off-grid dwelling but the owners wanted a flushing toilet, so once it was connected to water and sewage, it made little sense to restrict the home from receiving electricity.

Though, the firm is presently working on the next iterations of its tiny house that operate fully off-grid, and would include a composting toilet and a roof-based solar array.

Indian stepwells and water mazes inspire new landscape by Penda

Vertical forest mountain planned for Xingyi CityA hotel in the shape of a vertical forest mountain has been planned for Xingyi City in Guizhou province of southwest China.

The development would be sited on a reconstructed hill, which had pre-viously been razed and it would be sheathed in greenery from foundations to roof so as to bring guests closer to nature while purifying their air.

The project has been designed by Milan-based firm Stefano Boeri Architetti that has turned the vertical forest into something of a trademark, completing similar projects like the

Bosco Verticale in Italy and proposing La Tour des Cedres in Switzerland.

“Following the first prototype in Milan and in Lausanne, the vertical for-est is continuously consolidating as a model for sustainable urbanisation,” said Stefano Boeri Architetti.

The 31,000-square-metre develop-ment would contain 250 rooms in addi-tion to a gym, lounge, VIP area, bar, res-taurant, and conference room.

The client is Hong Kong-based Cachet Hotel Group, and the interior designs would be created in collabora-tion with local artist Simon Ma.

A landscape has been designed by Penda for Hyderabad, which took its inspiration from India’s stepwells and water mazes. When finished, the 8000 square metre Magic Breeze Landscape would serve 145 apartments in a devel-opment by Pooja Crafted Homes. The landscape’s signature features would be its bamboo coves, flower gardens, water displays, and built-in benches. The steps found throughout the landscape would double as planters for flowers, herbs, and grasses, which would serve as a communal garden for residents.

The landscape’s maze-like fea-tures allow for different experiences of the environment depending on the speed and purpose of the users: a wide, straight road is for runners, fast walk-ers, and emergency vehicles, a nar-rower walking path accommodates residents who want to quickly arrive at their apartments, and a third path takes more wandering visitors onto the steps and through gardens in a more leisurely and transportive manner.

Magic Breeze Landscape is set to begin construction this summer.

14th International & nExhibition Conference oSustainable & Smart City Solutions

sustainable smart cities

e-governancerecycling

gis/gps building materials & technologies

housing for allwaste water treatment

safety &security

watersupply

urban infrastructure

digital india

smart utilities

affordable housing

rain water harvestingheritage issues

new towndevelopment

environment &pollution control

total sanitationclean technologies

mass rapid transport disaster managementrenewable energypre-engineered buildings

traffic management

engineering practicesslumfree cities

constructionplumbing

municipalsolid waste

wireless broadbandsewerage

m-governanceict applications

spatial planninggreen building

architecture &design

18, 19, 20 May 2017CIDCO Exhibition Centre, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Conference Organised byExhibition Organised by Powered by

Co-located with