CHENNAI: Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary (Housing and Urban Affairs), Government of India, on Saturday, inspected the Command and Control Centre at Ripon Building. Speaking to reporters following the inspection, Mishra said that the command and control centre helps in keeping a tab on the functioning of several works and also in monitoring them, thereby helping the city’s growth.
For instance, the effects of rainfall and flooding can be monitored through CCTV surveillance, and doing so helps in understanding the water levels, and how it is discharged, he said. He also added that apart from this, it has several functions like monitoring traffic congestion and where there are crowds. Another 10 ties in the State will follow suit and have command and control centres in the next couple of weeks, he said.
Mishra also said that Rs 12,000 crore have been invested by the Centre in smart city projects, of which projects worth Rs 4,000 crore have already been completed. In Chennai, smart city projects like the Pedestrian Plaza in Pondy Bazaar have benefitted several residents, he said, adding the Centre has spent Rs 12,000 crore in water, sewerage and drainage projects and in next one year all projects under Amrut will be completed.
On the Amrut project being implemented in 28 cities of the State, Mishra said Rs 12,000 crore has been invested in water, sewer, drainage projects. 11 cities will 135lpcd of water, 12 cities will have sewer, drainage system. He said 28 Amrut cities will have green space and community space. He added that he will also be visiting some of the projects under the Amrut mission in Chennai.
He said that under Jal Jeevan Mission, the focus will be to ensure water is provided to all 664 cities in the country while highlighting the water stress in Chennai. He said that the Prime Minister Street Vendor Atma Nirbhar Nidhi which was launched in July 2020 was to target 2.6 lakh street vendors in the State.
“Already, the State has received 2.7 lakh applications of which 90,000 have been processed and 45,000 applications cleared. A total of Rs 4.5 crore has been distributed to street vendors under the scheme. “If they repay the loan, they will get seven per cent subsidy,” said the Union secretary. He also highlighted that 35,000 rental housing complexes are being proposed which will help the urban poor and migrant workers.