NEW DELHI: The national capital will be spruced up with an expenditure of Rs 927 crore in view of the G-20 summit that is slated to begin from March 1. The hefty sum will go into infrastructural development and hosting of various events in the run-up to the summit, including vintage car rally, electric car rally, golf tournament, film festival among others, a document seen by the newspaper showed.
The estimate of close to 10 billion has been given by 11 agencies and departments of Delhi gover nment, including Public Works Department (PWD), Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), among others, it said. The budget outlay was presented in a high-level review meeting of 26 departments that Delhi L-G VK Saxena chaired on Thursday to take stock of the G-20 preparations.
Barring Central Public Works Department (CPWD) and Railways, all other departments presented their action plans in the meeting. “CPWD and Railways have been instructed to submit their action plans by next week,” an official present in the meeting said. Officials said that all ministers, including Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, were called to participate in the meeting but only Social Welfare Minister Raaj Kumar Anand attended the meet.
The officials said PWD, MCD and Railways representatives expressed the issue of unauthorized occupation in their area that is hampering bulk of their projects being undertaken for G-20 preparations. “The L-G has insisted that nobody should be removed in a callous and inhumane manner, without providing them the required rehabilitation and relocation assistance as provided by law,” the senior official said. Meanwhile, agencies and departments were instructed to come-up with initiatives that will allow hassle-free services for the visitors who will be arriving in the city.
The tourism department was asked to come up with the detailed plan of action with regards to availability of hotel rooms, guest houses, etc. since around 1 lakh visitors are expected to visit during this time,” the senior official said. Besides, focus will also be given on training of drivers employed with cab aggregators and making their payment portals compatible with debits through international credit cards since most visitors have access to Uber Apps and use credit cards,” he added.