Vijayawada, Vizag Municipal Corporations Top In India's Climate Smart Cities

SURAT: The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC)  and the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) have secured 4-star rating in the Climate Smart Cities Assessment Framework 2.0 awarded by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MHUA).The award was presented at a three-day event, ‘Smart Cities, Smart Urbanisation’, organised by the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs that began in Surat on April 18. The event was to highlight important initiatives being implemented in 100 Smart Cities.

In ‘Smart Cities Smart Urbanisation' conclave under MoHUA, winners of 'India Smart Cities Awards Contest 2020’ were facilitated, encouraging cities to adopt sustainable & smart solutions for urbanisation development.#SmartCitiesMission pic.twitter.com/Kp3ttKHwLO

— Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (@MoHUA_India) April 18, 2022

Vijayawada Mayor R. Bhagyalakshmi, Commissioner Swapnil Dinakar Pundakar, along with other officials, received the award. Though Vijayawada was not a part of the Smart Cities Mission, it was given the rating considering the various smart initiatives taken such as CLAP (Clean AP), installation of solar panels on existing government and school buildings, rolling out of 250 CNG autorickshaws for day-to-day garbage collection, and implementation of actions mentioned in the Water Resource Management Plan under AMRUT 2.0.,  for increasing the green belt by removing encroachments along the Krishna bank, canals and railway lines. VMC had converted conventional street lights into LED lights and reduced power consumption by 50%. The city was the first in the country to collect garbage from the doorstep of people by using CNG vehicles. Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) Commissioner G. Lakshmisha received the award for the solar projects implemented. A PowerPoint presentation on the solar projects in the Port City during the conference was presented and details of the works being undertaken as part of the ‘Smart City’ project were showcased. ( With Inputs From The Hindu)

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