Kyoto varsity team in holy city today

VARANASI: A Kyoto University team will visit the city on Thursday to further Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ‘smart city’ initiative under the ‘sister city’ partnership agreement signed between Kyoto and Varanasi during his visit to Japan in August.
The Japanese delegation will seek information on waste management, ghats along the Ganga and various heritage sites dotting the ancient temple town, said municipal commissioner Umakant Tripathi.“A meeting will be convened at the Varanasi Municipal Corporation (VMC) office where various issues regarding implementation of the Kashi-Kyoto pact will be discussed,” he added.
“At the meeting, officials of development authorities will also be present and issues of solid waste management, cleanliness of city, laying of sewerage system, improvement of ghats and other modifications for infrastructure development of the city while maintaining its heritage will be discussed," he said.
The VMC had engaged a private company A2Z for solid waste management in the city in 2009, but the tussle between the A2Z and VMC since two years has led to solid waste management go out of gear. The city is reeling under insanitary conditions as mounding heaps of garbage can be found strewn almost everywhere. On March 18, a meeting of VMC officials, Construction and Design Services (C&DS) and representatives of A2Z company was held at Lucknow where the company expressed its willingness to resume their services after seeking approval from the administration.
As per the agreement, under the ‘smart city’ heritage programme, Kyoto will provide cooperation in the field of conservation and modernisation of cities as well as art, culture and academics. Earlier in October, deputy mayor of Kyoto Kenichi Ogasawara visited Varanasi and assured all possible help in betterment of Kashi.
Meanwhile, during their two-day visit, the representatives from Kyoto University's Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies (GSGES) will visit Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development (IESD) of Banaras Hindu University's (BHU) on Friday to undertake education and research partnership. As part of the Kyoto-Kashi pact, both the institutes have undertaken a study on climate and disaster resilience of Varanasi with the support of VMC.
A meeting comprising delegation from Kyoto University, representatives of ministry of external affairs, ministry of urban development, Central government and representatives of the embassy of Japan will be held on Friday at BHU to release the study report and present the features of the research. Also, in order to strengthen the academic and research collaboration between IESD and GSGES, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) will also be signed during the meeting