Meerut, Sept 9 (KNN) To buttress its bid to win ‘Smart City’ project for Meerut  for economic development its citizens have brought-in the national federation of MSMEs – FISME and  Janaagrahr for Citizenship and Democracy , a Bengaluru based NGO specialized in building capacities of city administrations.

The Smart City Mission is an ambitious initiative announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015 under which 100 cities are to be developed.

So far 90 cities have already been identified. Under the project, financial aid will be given by the central and state government- Rs. 500 crore each, between 2017 - 2022.

Meerut,  the 26th most populous city in the country, has not been able to make to the list of 100 cities so far.

Now the Meerut Citizen Forum (MCF)- a group of committed citizens have decided to assist the local administration in developing the project to significantly improve the quality of life in Meerut.

The MCF is taking assistance of Janaagrah to build capacity of local urban body to improve planning and governance in this context.

Janaagrah- a nationally acclaimed institution on urban development, conducts the ranking of urban bodies of major Indian cities. From Uttar Pradesh two cities which are included in the ranking are Lucknow and Kanpur.

For planning and implementing the economic development agenda, the MCF  has sought assistance of FISME to suggest measures to rejuvenate and expand economic activities in the industrial clusters in and around Meerut such as Sports goods, Scissors, Brass band, Jewelery, Printing & Publication, Powerloom,  Transformers, bus-body building among others.

After a meeting held between representative of Janaagrah and MCF recently, a team from Bangalore will soon visit Meerut.

The MCF is also planning to hold an intensive two day workshop titled ‘Meerut City Development: Issues, Challenges and Way Forward’ in October this year. Many external experts are likely to share the experience of urban development initiatives underway in different cities in India. 

The workshop will help chalk-out the work agenda for MCF also. (KNN/ AB)