To accelerate economic growth and to improve the quality of life in the ancient city of Aligarh, CEO, Aligarh Smart City, Gaurang Rathi, IAS, is pushing for developmental works in all areas. Using technology to produce smart outcome, the Aligarh Development Authority, under its Smart City Mission, has undertaken numerous projects to improve the city on all fronts and improve the quality of life for its people.
Speaking with Indian Masterminds, Mr. Gaurang Rathi, IAS, shared details about the projects taken up by him to make the city smarter.
FOR SEWAGE AND DRINKING WATER
Mr. Rathi said, “Any city or place cannot be called smart unless we have tried to cover as many aspects as possible of basic living, like drainage, drinking water, roads and similar facilties, that basically make everyday life easy.”
Aligarh has taken up around 78 crores worth of drainage projects, as drainage is one of the major problems faced by the city. Along with this, around 100 crores worth of projects have been taken up solely for sewage management and drinking water supply. In the same way, a project has also been taken up for integrated waste management for the entire solid waste of the city.
The officer said that the projects would help them solve 100% of the solid waste management problem, 70% of the water problem, and 50% of the drainage and liquid waste management problems.
ALIGARH HABITAT CENTRE
In addition to the projects, they have also started the development of a one-stop Aligarh Habitat Centre, which will open up commercial avenues like restaurants, dance classes, gym, offices, and, at the same time, also have an incubation centre, startup floor, command control centre for monitoring the whole city.
“Through this, various domains of everyday life would be covered, which includes both business activities and government activities,” Mr. Rathi said.
CITY BEAUTIFICATION
Another project, Achal Tal, is a religious cum entertainment site that will have an open-air theatre, boating and other water activities, shops and a big parikrama to cater to religious activities.
Additionally, the development authority has put in around 150 crores for the development of roads, underground electrical connections, street lighting, vending zones, parking spaces.
With smart schools being developed in the city, emphasis is also being laid on developing a state-of-the-art indoor stadium with a big-size swimming pool that will be able to host national and international events. “This would further boost sports activities not just in Aligarh but in several districts close by. We are also developing the biggest park in Aligarh – Jawahar Naqvi Park – as a smart park, which will be one-of-its-kind in North India,” Mr. Rathi said.
WORK IN PROGRESS
He also said that since they have started most of the projects in 2022 only, the work is in progress and the people would get to see the end results later when the city would get a complete facelift.
In line with the makeover plan, a 1.8 km stretch in the old area of Rasalganj market area would be developed to the lines of Chandni Chowk and Hazaratganj which would boost business as well as tourism.
The officer said that there is a perceptive positive upheaval and a positive synergy among the people, as they are eager to see their city as a model of smart city, comparable to any other developed cities of the country.
“I think by the end of this year, we will be in a position to say that this is how Aligarh is shaping up in its new smart avatar. But the final outcome will be seen by the end of 2023 only,” Mr. Rathi said.
