5,000 Slum Families Rehabilitated Under Ahmedabad’s ABD approach
“Smart Cities projects undertaken by us have been extremely challenging but we charted our own course and achieved a lot in a short span of three years. Safety and security of our citizens are paramount for us," said Mukesh Kumar, Commissioner, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation
Ahmedabad has emerged as one of the model cities under the Prime Minister’s Smart Cities Mission and is well ahead of the curve having spent around 2000 crores on its ambitious Smart Cities Mission. But, to make this development inclusive, the city under its Area Based Development (ABD) approach has rehabilitated more than 5,000 families in the slum areas and the work in around 46 dwellings is already going on.
Speaking on the sidelines of BW Smart Cities Conclave, Ahmedabad, Mukesh Kumar, Commissioner, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation today said, “ABD has been extremely important for us. Our smart cities must reach the bottom of the ladder and to ensure this we chose to visit slums as a part of our ADB approach. So far we have successfully rehabilitated more than 5,000 families in the slums and the work is going on in around 46 slums.”
Highlighting the importance of this inclusion, Kumar also said that this intervention is extremely important in the long run to make the poor people a part of the development process.
He also stated, “Smart Cities projects undertaken by us have been extremely challenging but we charted our own course and achieved a lot in a short span of three years. Safety and security of our citizens are paramount for us.”
Emphasising on the inclusion aspect, Gautambhai Navalchand Shah, Mayor, Ahmedabad also affirmed, “The primary aim of Ahmedabad Smart Cities Mission is to make our citizen’s lives better and ensure a sustainable development which are our ‘to work on principles’. Liveable and Lovable is what our motto is.”
He also said that Ahmedabad is our country’s growth engine, world’s first heritage city and a model city under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s envisioned and ambitious Smart Cities Mission.
India’s Smart Cities Mission is progressing at a rapid pace with 99 cities added in January this year taking the total proposed investment outlay of Rs. 2.04 lakh crore. The Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Union Budget 2018 speech accorded maximum increase in the budgetary allocations of Rs. 6169 crore in 2018-19, a good jump of 54 per cent over the previous year.