JAMMU: Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Friday called for the contribution of multi-stakeholders and the participation of people to tackle the challenges of growing urbanisation in the union territory.
Sinha was speaking at a function after inaugurating and laying the foundation stone of 14 projects worth Rs 113 crore of Jammu Smart City here.
“Multi-stakeholders’ contribution and people’s participation is needed to make cities and towns resilient, competitive, and dynamic with strong social infrastructure to tackle the challenges of growing urbanisation,” he said.
Dedicating the Smart City Projects to the people, the Lt Governor said these projects will create a smart living by improving quality of life, better public services, opportunities for local economic development and easier accessibility to everyone.
Observing that the global framework of smart cities has undergone a paradigm shift in the last two-three years and eco-cities have been envisaged to make the urban infrastructure sustainable, Sinha said.
Jammu Smart City projects have ensured that maximum green space is provided to the citizens, he said.
“Our aim is to transform Jammu as an eco-city for sustainable economic activities and to also nurture ecological assets. Six projects have been initiated to harness the benefit of rich ecology, enhance the well being of citizens and resource efficiency by appropriate strategic approach,” the Lt Governor said.
He said that the concept of a Smart City without a Smart Citizen is meaningless.
“From developing Smart City to maintaining its systems and infrastructure, the participation of every citizen at every level is vital. It is the responsibility of the community to preserve and protect the amenities.”
The lieutenant governor directed the officials to ensure the completion of the projects within a set time frame and called for adopting a realistic approach to make public services and urban infrastructure efficient with equal participation of all citizens.
His other directions included making smart with the use of technology, to facilitate rapid socio-economic development and better quality of life.
Highlighting the impact of the Smart City projects which he inaugurated, the Lt Governor said the facade lighting of Mubarak Mandi, the priceless heritage of the Dogra Dynasty, will add aesthetics to the heritage building, and boost the local economy by attracting more tourist influx.
Speaking on the achievements of the revenue department, the Lt Governor said initiatives like ‘Aapki Zameen Aapki Nigrani’ and the institutionalisation of 1,553 ‘Patwarkhanas’ have empowered the common citizens.
“Through digitisation and land passbooks, land disputes will be substantially reduced and it will be easier to check fraudulent transactions,” he said. The work of digitisation of land records is going on in all 20 districts and out of 6,912 villages, the process of digitisation has been completed in 3,049 villages, he said. (PTI)