Smart city is a 'wholesome' concept: Dr Jitendra Singh

NEW DELHI:Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh, has said the Smart City is a "wholesome" concept and cannot be practised in piece-meal or in parts.

Addressing the Smart City Summit as Chief Guest here today, Dr Singh said the Smart City initiative is one of the flagship programmes of the Central Government, for which, the Urban Development Ministry has developed a very objective and scientific qualifying criteria for a town or city to be included in this programme.

Considering the typical topographic and developmental status of the eight States in the North-Eastern Region, Dr Singh assured he will take up with the Ministry of Urban Development the possibility of having a little more liberal criteria for inclusion of the North-Eastern cities in this programme,.

At the same time, Dr Singh said, a progressive approach in the Smart City initiative is not confined only to the construction of buildings and roads, but also to providing of optimum infrastructure for various facets of life, particularly health and education sectors. Besides, a “Smart City” is not smart only on the basis of its physical appearance, but also on the basis of its people who are smart enough to live up to the requirements and expectations of contemporary times, he added.

In order to make the programme more wholesome, the Minister  called upon the private stakeholders participating in the conference to come forward in partnership with the government and encourage entrepreneurship in the North-East to take advantage of its vast unexplored potential.

He said, for any new Startup initiative in Northeast, in addition to the provisions and facilities provided by the Government of India, the Ministry of DoNER has also announced the additional incentive of providing a Venture Capital Fund.

On the occasion, officer bearers and officials from both government and private sector, were presented awards for their distinguished performance in the Smart City programme.