5 Things You Need To Know About Varanasi's Smart Plan  

Three cities from Uttar Pradesh figured on the Centre's recently released list of 27 cities to be redeveloped as smart cities in the second round of the competition. Among the three UP cities on the list is Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Lok Sabha constituency, Varanasi. The other two are Agra and Kanpur.

A look at five ways in which Modi's Varanasi plans to turn smart:

Varanasi's smart city plan will see retrofitting an area of 1,389 acres in the old city area, along the Ganga. After considering nine locations, the old city was chosen for area-based development after voting by over four lakh citizens. The area accounts for seven per cent of the city's geographical area, 31 per cent of the population and 38 per cent of the city's gross domestic product.

Authorities plan to transform the city into 'suramya-samunnat-surakshit-sanyojit-nirmal-and-ekikrit Kashi'. This means authorities will focus on enhancing the city's appeal, ensure socio-economic growth and security, enable hassle-free traffic movement, cleanliness and develop an integrated governance system.

A total of Rs 2,520 crore to be spent on the rejuvenation of ghats, infrastructure and e-governance to create a smart Varanasi. While Rs 1,659 crore will be spent on area development and Rs 618 crore on pan-city solutions, the rest of the expenditure includes technical and administrative expenses. In addition to the support from the Central and the state government, Rs 1,290 crore will be garnered through the convergence of various schemes, Rs 505 crore will come from the Varanasi Municipal Corporation's coffers and Rs 140 crore from the public-private partnership.

To improve city governance and urban mobility, the Varanasi Municipal Corporation has proposed setting up an optic-fibre connectivity across the city, an online payment gateway for utility bills and service delivery, an intelligent traffic management system, a CCTV-based monitoring and surveillance system, e-Suvidha centres, information delivery on mobile apps, smart card for all services, etc. On the other hand, ghats and temples of the city will see redevelopment while the chosen area will see assured power and water supply through effective waste management. What more? The city will develop 11 parks and create smart multi-level parking spaces, cultural-cum-convention centre, pedestrian pathways, non-motorised transport, energy-efficient street lighting and underground cabling.

Under its Smart City plan, Varanasi aims at increasing its tourist footfalls by over 25 per cent and increase the revenue generation from international tourists and pilgrims by over 30 per cent. About 65 lakh tourists visit the ancient city every year.