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Coimbatore Corpn. holds Swachh Sarvekshan meeting

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The Hindu       09.11.2017   

Coimbatore Corpn. holds Swachh Sarvekshan meeting

Coimbatore Corporation on Wednesday held a Swachh Sarvekshan meeting for its officers to prepare them for the next round of clean city rankings. The event also saw the civic body release bags that would serve as alternatives to plastic carry bags.

Sources in the Corporation said that the sanitary inspectors, zonal sanitary officers and field-level engineers were told about various components of the Swachh Sarvekshan rankings and which component would carry how much marks. The Central Government is expected to start the country-wide ranking for clean cities in January 2018.

The participants were told that this time the Government had laid emphasis on direct observation and citizen feedback by increasing their marks by 5 % each and reducing by 10 % the marks given for service level progress.

The field-level staff were also told to look about the facilities citizens needed in public and community toilets and their level of usage.

Discussion with

German firm

Meanwhile, the Coimbatore Corporation officials and representatives of non-government organisations held a preliminary meeting with Fraunhofer India team to explore how the latter could aid city development.

The German agency had recently announced its intention to set up a lab in Coimbatore to help in urban development. As part of the announcement, members from the German agency met the civic body officials and NGO representatives to understand what the city needed most and how they could contribute for the city’s development.

Sources said the interaction would continue before both sides arrived at a consensus on where the city could tap the German expertise.

 

City all set to get more smart benches

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The Hindu        17.08.2017 

City all set to get more smart benches

The civic body plans to install smart tree benches at 30 more places in the city.M.PERIASAMYM_PERIASAMY   | Photo Credit: M. PERIASAMY

The estimated cost of each of the benches is around Rs. 4 lakh

After installing a solar panel topped structure as smart street bench at its main office, the Coimbatore Corporation has decided to go in for 30 more such benches.

With a solar panel as roof, people can sit at the smart bench and enjoy Wi-Fi connectivity. It has power points to charge phones or tablet computing devices. The Corporation has said that the benches to be installed could have a few sensors as well.

Sources familiar with the development said that the Corporation would install the benches in the wards that come under the area based development component of the smart cities project. The estimated cost of each of the benches was around Rs. 4 lakh.

The Corporation could go in for a public-private partnership model of development - meaning, the companies installing the smart benches could provide advertisement space or choose other advertisement mechanisms to recover the installation cost.

The Corporation was also giving the companies/contractors the freedom to modify the design of the benches. They need not be a replication of the one in the Corporation main office.

The Corporation had meanwhile called online for request for proposal for 10 such benches. The Corporation had said that the idea of a smart bench was to create a unique design that provided solar energy to power cell phones, Wi-Fi, LED lighting, and sensor data gathering gadgets.

The objective was to make streets and public properties smarter and greener with the proposed smart bench.

Sources in the Corporation, however, said that the civic body must first explain the purpose of and the benefit for the public from the smart bench in the main office. It should provide details like how many people had utilised the facility, charged their phone and was there a written feedback. They added that the Corporation should not rush into establishing more benches.

 

Civic body sends Rs. 12.15 crore proposal to govt. for zoo improvement project

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The Hindu            17.08.2017  

Civic body sends Rs. 12.15 crore proposal to govt. for zoo improvement project

Coimbatore Corporation to take up zoo modernisation under the Smart Cities plan.S. SIVA SARAVANANS. SIVA SARAVANAN  

After deciding to take up the zoo improvement project under the Smart Cities mission, the Coimbatore Corporation has sent the proposal for Rs. 12.15 crore to the State Government for approval. Sources in the Coimbatore Corporation said that the zoo designers/consultants, the corporation had engaged sometime last year, had submitted a plan, which they sent to the Central Zoo Authority for approval.

The plan was to annex the nearby VOC Park so that the total area of the zoo was around 10 acre.

This was to ensure that each animal/species had adequate free ranging area and that complied with the Authority’s norms.

The Authority sought a few clarifications, which the corporation had successfully addressed. Even as it awaited the Authority’s approval for redesigning the zoo, the corporation had sent the proposal under the Smart Cities mission to the State Government for financial approval.

The Coimbatore Smart City Limited, the special purpose vehicle created for executing projects under the Smart Cities mission, also approved of the proposal, the sources said.

Meanwhile, the corporation had relocated two camels and 28 goat to animal cattle shelter near Coimbatore and had planned to send a few more to another cattle shelter in Pollachi. It was also in talks with the Forest Department to see how it could rehabilitate feral and commonly found animals so that the number of animals and birds went down, the sources added.

 


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