Belagavi Emerges As A Strong Contender For Citiis 2.0, Infra News, ET Infra

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BELAGAVI: The Union ministry of housing and urban affairs has commenced the process of selecting cities for the City Investments to Innovate, Integrate and Sustain 2.0 (CITIIS 2.0), a sub-component of the Government of India’s Smart Cities Mission. Belagavi city is hopeful of getting selected for the CITIIS 2.0, due to its innovative approach towards solid waste management.

The Centre is going to select 18 cities out of 100, which were earlier selected for the Smart City project across the country. Notably, Belagavi had been included in the first list for the Smart City project. This time too, the authorities of Belagavi Smart City Limited (BSCL) are hoping to be selected for the CITIIS 2.0.

The 18 cities which will be chosen for CITIIS 2.0 will receive an allocation of Rs 135 crore. Of this, 80% contribution comes directly from the Centre, while the remaining 20% will come from the local urban authorities.

On Wednesday, the Belagavi City Corporation (BCC) passed a resolution in the council meeting, agreeing to provide a 20% share, that is, around Rs 27 crore. The grant must be utilised for solid waste management, according to regulations.

The BSCL is sending its proposal, and all preparations have been made in this regard. The proposal is supposed to be submitted to the centre by January 15, the last date for accepting proposals. The Centre will select suitable proposals on January 20.

Before that, the BSCL is conducting a citizens’ survey in the city seeking opinions on the current system of solid waste management and suggestions on what is supposed to be changed. The survey form has 30 questions to answer.

“We have targeted around 15,000 citizen opinions through Google form. So far, we have collected 5,000 forms. Besides this, we are also holding a competition for the college students of the city to name the solid waste management project. The best name selected will be awarded,” said BSCL MD Syeda Afreen Banu S Bellary, speaking to the TOI.

Afreen Banu and Hanumant Kaladagi, environmental engineer of Belagavi City Corporation, participated in a workshop organised by the Centre in this regard in Kochi, Kerala from December 12 to 14.