VIJAYAWADA: As the citizen feedback category plays a crucial role in the Ease of Living Index-2019 by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) has decided to reach out to all sections to ensure more participation in the survey being conducted across 114 cities in the country.
As part of its plans, the civic body is contemplating highlighting the infrastructure projects taken up after Vijayawada was placed ninth in the previous edition of the survey.
The MoHUA will provide the ranking after assessing individual performances in 15 categories: transportation and mobility, power supply, safety and security, water supply, education, governance, identity and culture, solid waste management, public open spaces, housing, reduction in pollution, economy and empowerment, waste-water management, and mix land uses and compactness.
According to information, after finding itself among the top 10 cities in the 2018 survey, the corporation earned praises for pioneering the implementation of ‘innovative’ projects under its ambit.
To better its position this time, the civic body has adopted numerous measures for better solid waste management such as implementation of QR code-enabled radio frequency identification (RFID) tags for waste collection, establishment of a biomining plant to treat 2.5 lakh tonnes of waste accumulated at Ajith Singh Nagar dump yard and various plants to recycle plastic waste, construction debris, on-site windrow composting, and a biomethanation plant to treat agriculture waste.
When it comes to development of infrastructure and open spaces, the corporation has several projects in pipeline, which include construction of modern bus shelters under street furniture project, corridor improvement project to develop bicycle lanes, walking tracks and greenery on Mahatma Gandhi Road, Eluru Road, BRTS Road and Sambamurthy Road, establishment of open gymnasiums and revamping of public parks.
Apart from that, the civic body is also strengthening the drinking water supply under Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) to ensure 24/7 drinking water supply to the residents. "We have completed around 70 per cent of the data submission on the MoHUA website and the remaining supportive data will be submitted on time," said civic chief V Prasanna Venkatesh.
The supportive data include hospital beds availability, literacy rate, households with piped water supply, cleanliness and availability of green spaces, which is supposed to be uploaded by Saturday. He added 328 persons (till Wednesday) had submitted their feedback for the survey. The target is 11,890 (one percent of the city’s population as per the 2011 census).
Assessment in 15 categories
The MoHUA will provide ranking after assessing a city’s individual performances in 15 categories
such as transportation and mobility, power supply, safety, water supply, governance and solid waste management