Ashok Singhal reviews projects under Housing Affairs & Irrigation Dept. of Assam

Guwahati: A programme "Antaranga Aalap" was held at NeDFi today to discuss the developments and roadmaps of the work in progress and work completed under Assam's Housing & Urban Affairs and Irrigation departments.

Ashok Singhal, Minister of Housing & Urban Affairs and Irrigation Department, Govt. of Assam reviewed and presented in detail the projects under the Department of Housing and Urban Affairs and Irrigation.

While addressing the media, Ashok Singhal discussed various developments under the DoHUA. He also discussed the various aspects of work completed by DoHUA and the Assam Irrigation Department in the previous fiscal year.

The minister also discussed the Do HUA and Irrigation departments' plans and roadmap.

Singhal told Business-Northeast, "we have just started the riverfront project. It will take another three years to complete. Work is in full swing. I am sure that the project will be completed on time. And since, it is a beautification project under the tourism department it will definitely benefit the localities. People here will get a lot of employment opportunities which will add to the state's economy. The riverfront project has an investment of around Rs. 300 crores till date".

Working towards Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's vision, Ashok Singhal highlighted their department's outstanding work and how they have been digitally active in addressing public concerns on an urgent basis.

He continued to say that they are determined to contribute to the vision of development and progress under the capable leadership of CM Himanta Biswa Sarma.

Senior officials from Assam's Housing and Urban Affairs and Irrigation Departments, as well as the Deputy Commissioner of Kamrup, attended the programme.

Key highlights of projects reviewed by Ashok Singhal

Improvement of water quality and Enhancement of water retaining capacity of the Silsakoo Beel:

• Silt traps have been created at the mouth of each drain outfall into the lake allowing sedimentation; also, a separate channel carrying sewage and runoff water
• Clearance of encroachments up to 100 metres on either side along the 0.83-kilometer channel
• 72 houses both kutcha and RCC/ Assam Type permanent have been demolished

Public Parks:

• Atal Udyan Park at Hengrabari & Maligaon was inaugurated and works completed for Jorpukhuri Park.
• The Botanical Garden project and the Nehru Park remodeling project will be completed by 2023.
• The project of integration of the DC Bungalow with the erstwhile residence of Commissioner of Police will be completed by the end of March 2024. The process of demolition of the offices of the DC Kamrup Metro, Commissioner GMC, CEO Zilla Parishad and the SBI Panbazar Branch will be completed by 24th January 2023.

Satellite Township:

• In the Budget Speech of FY 22-23 a commitment was made to develop a world-class integrated business city- Amrit-Guwahati Integrated Global City (Amrit-GiG City). Accordingly, 1000 acres of land is identified as potential site in Jagiroad in the Morigaon district.
• Surbana Jurong, an entity from Singapore has been engaged as the consultant for the master plan of the satellite township and the master plan shall be completed by the year 2023.

150 TPD Compost & RDF Plant at Belortol, Guwahati:

• Works have been initiated for establishment of a 150 TPD Compost cum RDF Plant at Belortol, Guwahati.
• The construction will be completed by June, 2023 and 150 TPD mixed waste will be treated after the plant is functional. The output will be Compost & Refuse derived Fuel (RDF).
Biomining of Legacy waste at Paschim Boragaon:
• Government accorded an Administrative Approval for Rs. 172.5 Crore for Bio-mining of the Legacy Waste at Paschim Boragaon wherein 15 Lakh to 17 Lakh Tonne of legacy waste will be processed and land reclamation will be done within 36 Months.

Online Property Tax collection of GMC:

• To enable people to enjoy government services 24 hours a day, GMC has developed web portal for self-assessment of property tax and online payment of Property tax for the Guwahati Municipal Corporation area.
• With the launching of the amnesty scheme, GMC has given an opportunity to the public to clear their huge property tax dues before 2022 with a 50% discounted rate. Amount collected to date: 25.7 crores

Guwahati Smart City:

Integrated traffic management system (Phase I) has been rolled out, Procurement of 100 AC CNG Buses at a cost of Rs 29 Crores and inaugurated on 1st January, 2023, Renovation & upgradation of the existing museum of the Gandhi Mandap, Light and Sound show Project at Gandhi Mandap, Sarania Hill has been initiated

Guwahati Jal Board:

JICA Assisted Guwahati Water Supply Project has been partially commissioned by Guwahati Metropolitan Drinking Water & Sewerage Board under the Department of Housing & Urban Affairs on 21/12/2022 wherein:
• Kharguli Water Treatment Plant with 60 MLD capacity out of total 191 MLD capacity was made operational.
• Water supply provisioned in 14 DMAs of South-Central Guwahati with a capacity of 12000 households (approx.)
• Application by potential consumers made completely online through website and dedicated mobile app
• Local SHG members under NULM roped in as Jal Saksh is to create awareness, assist in consumer registration, bill collection etc.,
• Total applications received: 3239 out of which 1518 House Hold connections have already been provided.
Urban Infrastructure Development Fund (UIDF):
• First Convention Centre already started in Tinsukia and 6 numbers of convention centres are planned this year

AMRUT Mission:

10 nos of parks have been completed and water supply projects at Dibrugarh and Nagaon are more than 70 percent complete and shall be completed by August 2023. Similarly, in the Nagaon Water Supply project, 1316 household connections were already completed in the year 2022. Also, under the Silchar water Supply Project household connections have been started.

PMAY-U Mission:

Statistics itself show that out of the 65,649 odd houses completed since the year 2017 till date, 47,166 no of houses were completed in the year 2022 alone. This commendable effort has been duly recognized by the Govt of India and in a event held by the MoHUA in the month of October 2022 in Rajkot, Assam was recognized and awarded as the most improved State in PMAY.

NULM Mission:

1. formation of women SHGs
2. revolving fund assistance to SHGs
3. skilled training to unemployed Urban youths
4. Loans with interest subvention to individual and group entrepreneurs etc., were achieved more than 100%

PM-SVANIDHI scheme:

1. total target of 52000 loan disbursals to street vendors affected by COVID pandemic was 100% achieved
2. The target was revised to 82000 in Sept 2022. As on date, 61185 nos of loans have been disbursed, which is 74.62% of the revised target.

Swacch Bharat Mission:

1. 13 towns namely Tezpur, Diphu, Hojai, Tinsukia, Kokrajhar, Golaghat, Mangaldoi, Lakhipur (Goalpara), Lakhipur (Cachar), Doomdooma, Rangia, Udalguri and Karimganj has been declared as winners in different award categories under Swachh Survekshan, 2022.
2. 2 towns namely Howly and Mangaldoi are declared as winners in two different award categories under Indian Swachhata League- a National Competition organized by MoHUA to galvanize action around Swachhata and to trigger action for Garbage Free Cities during 17th September,2022- 2nd October, 2022.
3. As per recommendation of ULBs, 1(One) ward in each ULB is nominated as Model Ward where all aspects of Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban like 100% Source Segregation, 100%.
4. Door to door collection, Collection of User Charges and availability of sufficient Public Toilets. At present, campaign on Source Segregation and door to door collection of waste are being carried out engaging SHGs and NGOs for the purpose.

Urban Governance Reforms:

1. Three municipal cadres for Administrative, Engineering and Finance services have been created.
2. Online Property tax assessment is ongoing wherein web-portal and mobile application has been created and digital mapping of 4,33,871 (including existing) Holdings completed and 85,795 new holdings mapped.
3. Online Trade License service was inaugurated by Hon’ble Chief Minister.
4. Online Building Permit System (OBPS) has been launched for ULBs with final master plans.
5. Mukhya Mantri Sahej Griha Nirman Asoni (MMSGNA) is being extended across the urban areas of Assam for ease of permission to G+2 residential buildings.

Urban Reforms:

Assam Unified Building Construction (& Regulation) Byelaws, 2022, for entire state has been notified to streamline the urban development process and includes new concepts of like, Transit-Oriented Development (ToD), TDR, Local Area Plans, etc., to take a diversified approach to urban planning and management of cities. Through amendments of T&CP Act 1959 and GMDA Act, 1985, new planning concepts like Local Area Plan and Town Planning Schemes have also been introduced. Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMTA) has been created.

The Vision of DoHUA is to develop modern, sustainable and smart urban Assam and with this set objective, apart from the already mentioned works, the following is being implemented vigorously:

1. Efficient, vibrant, and livable city: to achieve the same, the following works are being taken up: Universal Coverage of Water Schemes, Efficient SWM system and cleaner towns, Cleaning of polluted stretches and treatment of wastewater, Thrust to infrastructure.
2. Climate Resilient, inclusive and sustainable urban planning: to achieve the same, following works are being taken up: Master Plan & Implementation, Incubation of satellite township, Flood resilient infrastructure
3. Technology-driven Governance to achieve the same, the following works are being taken up: Citizen Centric Services & Digital Reforms, State of the Art Knowledge Centers, Trained Manpower.

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