The city slipped to the 28th position in the internal ranking of smart cities from the last year’s 17th, prompting the Pune Smart Development Corporation Limited authorities cite delay in updating data as the reason for the slide.
“This is not the final annual ranking. It is just a weekly update. The city’s rank has fallen because the updated information was not shared with the authority concerned. The ranking will improve once the data is updated,” said Rubal Agarwal, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Pune Smart Development Corporation Limited (PSCDCL), adding that lack of manpower triggered the delay in updating the data of the city.
Nashik surpassed Pune in the “weekly update” and clinched the 15th position. Pimpri Chinchwad also slipped from the 29th position to 61.
A source in the PSCDCL said the consultants appointed for the data update and other works had been discharged from their duties and no fresh recruitment had been made. So, the update works were pending, he added.
Agarwal, the PSCDCL CEO, said, “Data updating has not been done since 2018. The PSCDCL will work out a mechanism to complete the data entries and share it with the authorities concerned. The ranking will improve after that.”
Factors such as project implementation and funds utilisation are considered before finalising the ranks of the cities under the Smart Cities Mission.
Pimpri Chinchwad municipal commissioner Shravan Hardikar, also the chief executive officer of the Pimpri Chinchwad Smart City Limited (PCSCL), said there was a dip in the ranking from 29th to 61st because the evaluation process had changed.
“Now, more focus is on the completion of projects. Many of our projects are on the verge of completion within next 3-6 months. So, there is nothing much to worry. We shall bounce back in terms of ranking in the future. The work related to the smart city projects was hampered because of the lockdown, but it has now resumed,” he said.
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Quelle/Source: The Times of India, 27.08.2020
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