In eight months, the smart city ranking went down from 10th to 71st. With this, the city has joined the red ranking. The crucial thing is that 13 crore rupees have still to be spent on the Smart City project, which has now been stopped. Only when the rank is improved, permission will be granted to use the fund.
In fact, the smart city has approved projects worth Rs 930 crore, of which Rs 371 crore has been received and Rs 358 crore has been paid to the contractors. Now the payment of Rs 13 crore has stopped, due to which Jalandhar has reached the red ranking.
The expense won't be approved until the ranking gets normal. Despite this, the money will be returned if the ranking does not rise.
The officers in the smart city update the projects' physical and financial status every day, but at present, this isn't happening because the payment files were still outstanding when the previous corporation commissioner was on long leave. Now Commissioner Devinder Singh has also kept the files pending.
Rajneesh Degra, Nodal Officer and SE of Smart City stated that initiatives will be taken to accelerate the speed of projects and raise the ranking. Amritsar was ranked 70th, and Ludhiana was ranked 67th at the same time. Jalandhar was ranked 10th in January; it is currently ranked 71st. With this, the city has joined the Red Ranking.
Also read: Punjab Police in joint OPS with BSF conducts 10 hour long night domination and search in border districts
There are 100 cities under the smart city project. On the basis of the project progress report, the budget is approved by the Central government. Every day, smart city officials post updates on their financial and physical development on the GMIS portal. On this webpage, all the cities are updated often, and the ranking is updated every four to five days. If the ranking stays above 20, the city is still deemed to be in a general category. If the ranking goes to 50, the budget is stopped, and the city is given a red ranking.
In fact, the smart city has approved projects worth Rs 930 crore, of which Rs 371 crore has been received and Rs 358 crore has been paid to the contractors. Now the payment of Rs 13 crore has stopped, due to which Jalandhar has reached the red ranking.
The expense won't be approved until the ranking gets normal. Despite this, the money will be returned if the ranking does not rise.
The officers in the smart city update the projects' physical and financial status every day, but at present, this isn't happening because the payment files were still outstanding when the previous corporation commissioner was on long leave. Now Commissioner Devinder Singh has also kept the files pending.
Rajneesh Degra, Nodal Officer and SE of Smart City stated that initiatives will be taken to accelerate the speed of projects and raise the ranking. Amritsar was ranked 70th, and Ludhiana was ranked 67th at the same time. Jalandhar was ranked 10th in January; it is currently ranked 71st. With this, the city has joined the Red Ranking.
Also read: Punjab Police in joint OPS with BSF conducts 10 hour long night domination and search in border districts
There are 100 cities under the smart city project. On the basis of the project progress report, the budget is approved by the Central government. Every day, smart city officials post updates on their financial and physical development on the GMIS portal. On this webpage, all the cities are updated often, and the ranking is updated every four to five days. If the ranking stays above 20, the city is still deemed to be in a general category. If the ranking goes to 50, the budget is stopped, and the city is given a red ranking.