UDH minister: Will revive Dravyavati on the lines of Sabarmati riverfront

Jaipur: UDH minister Rajpal Singh Shekhawat on Tuesday said the government will clean up and revive the dried up Dravyavati river in such a way that it will 'shine as a moon on Jaipur's forehead'. The river's revival work has been assigned to the Tata Group, which would develop its 47-km long passage through the city on the lines of the Sabarmati riverfront in Gujrat.
"Because of the stink from the river (locally known as Amanisha Nullah) Jaipur was called as 'city of hell'.We will now turn it into a 'city of heaven'," the minister said, while replying to the assembly debate on budgetary grants to the UDH department.
Shekhawat said the Dravyavati river project will not only beautify the city but also provide economic benefits to the people, as it would reclaim many hectares of agricultural land, which at the basic rate of Rs 20,000 per square meter was likely to generate revenue in crores of rupees. An appreciation of Rs 212 crore was expected on the 53-hectare adjoining government land, the minister said.
Recalling how he had termed JDA a "Jaipur Dakoo (dacoit) Authority" under the previous government, Shekhawat claimed that the present government has successfully reined in the civic body.
Talking about the slow progress of the Ring Road project, the minister said that the earlier Congress government awarded work to a wrong company so the banks denied to sanction loans. "Due to our efforts the work is expected to start soon and would be completed within the given deadline," Shekhawat asserted.
He targeted the previous government over selection of the Metro routes.
"Besides the capital investment, the operational and maintenance cost of Jaipur Metro in past nine month is Rs 48 crore. We are critically examining the viability of phase-II project," Shekhawat said.The minister said the government would soon roll out the Rajasthan Urban Infrastructure Development Project (RUIDP) phase-III to improve the infrastructure in six cities.
Shekhawat said, taking lessons from past failures, the UDH department was planning to award work of water supply and sewerage sector to a single contractor. It will be ensured that one contractor in one city gets the work and construction contracts will be embedded with long-term operation and maintenance provisions of 10 years.