The Times of India        17.09.2014  

Meeting at VDA to discuss city’s makeover today

Varanasi: For urban makeover of Modi's Banaras a three-day meeting will be held at Varanasi Development Authority from Wednesday. The meeting has been called to discuss various issues to be incorporated in new city development plan under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.

Now, a revised City Development Plan (CDP) will be prepared for the implementation of development works under JNNURM. According to environment officer under JNNURM, Shailendra Tripathi, besides the civic problems like drainage, sewage, transportation, development of urban poor, the issues of heritage, tourism, water conservation, energy saving, encroachments, greenery upgradation, purification of ponds, smart traffic system, beautification of parks and renovation of buildings will also be discussed during the meeting. According to Tripathi, all the components relating to city's development have been categorized into different categories.

The meeting will be attended by members of CRISIL Infrastructure Advisory and members from Capacity Building of Urban Development (CBUD), an intensive unit of Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) along with the officials of government agencies, educational experts, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other stakeholders. CRISIL Infrastructure Advisory's team of urban sector experts, who tied up with the MoUD, have been mandated by MoUD to appraise reforms under the JNNURM programme.

The old CDP was prepared in 2007 but as per the guidelines of Government of India in 2011, there is a need of revised CDP, Tripathi added.