Ajmer, Kota get 'smarter', join elite league

AJMER: Ajmer finally made it to the list of smart cities. The announcement which came after the meeting of the urban development ministry in New Delhi on Tuesday brought a cheer among the locals.
The main focus for smart city will be to enhance the facilities in the city for its residents and visitors rather than development of infrastructure, claimed the officials.
This is also the motto taken by the Ajmer Municipal Corporation (AMC) which has prepared a proposal in this regard.Projects related to sewerage system, drinking water, parking and traffic are highlighted in the proposal, which was sent to the ministry.
“After Ajmer failed to make it to the list in the first two rounds, we reworked to gap the shortcomings and sent a fresh proposal,“ said Dharmender Gehlot, mayor of municipal corporation.
He added that participation not just from the elected representatives and the district administration but also the locals, who shared their suggestions, helped in fine-tuning the proposal. The proposal includes projects worth Rs 1,900 core and those meant for the periphery villages.
The proposal was based on development and transport mobility as well as solid waste management for the whole city.
The services which we re included by the district administration in previous proposal like internet facilities and pathways we re curtailed from the proposal taking them as not feasible for the city.
The major factor is developing different services in the whole city in which initiating of sewerage lines, running corporation transport in the city and also maintaining parks and gardens of different areas and providing utility services and also investment shown in developing the periphery areas and satellite colonies.
Ajmer is the heritage as well as tourist city where thousands of devotees for the dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti and for Brahma temple of Pushkar reach here as well as large number for foreign tourists visit.
However, the facilities at the city have been rated poorly. The proposal prepared by the municipal corporation made clear that basic amenities are required for the people of Ajmer as the population of the region is increasing rapidly.
Over a year and a half ago, the state government signed an agreement with United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) regarding developing Ajmer as a smart city.Organizations like UN Indo Business Council and thereafter US trade development organizations also visited the city to see the ground reality but nothing solid result came out.