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Flying High ON URBAN INNOVATION
EVENT CALENDAR 2019-20 EVENT NAME
PLACE
MONTH
URBAN / SMART CITY / IT / INNOVATION / ENERGY/AGRICULTURE Transport Summit
Lucknow
November 2019
Power Summit
Jaipur
November 2019
Public Transport Summit
Jaipur
November 2019
Urban Innovation Summit, Punjab
Chandigarh
November 2019
3rd National Power Summit
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November 2019
Smart and Digital City Summit
Pune
December 2019
National eGovernance Summit, Haryana
Chandugarh
December 2019
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Jaipur
December 2019
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Mumbai
December 2019
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December 2019
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January 2020
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Mumbai
January 2020
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22-23 November 2019
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28 November 2019
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December 2019
EDUCATION Higher Education & Human Resource Conclave
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15th World Education Summit
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21-22 November 2019
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December 2019
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Jaipur
December 2019
17th World Education Summit
Hyderabad
February 2020
North East Education Fest
Kohima, Nagaland
February 2020
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Delhi
March 2020
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Dr Ravi Gupta EDITORIAL TEAM: DELHI/NCR Senior Assistant Editor: Souvik Goswami Assistant Editors: Vivek Ratnakar, Gopi Krishna Arora, Mukul Kumar Mishra, Sreetama Datta Roy Senior Correspondent: Rashi Aditi Ghosh Correspondent: Ritika Srivastava LUCKNOW BUREAU Senior Assistant Editor: Arpit Gupta MUMBAI BUREAU Associate Editor: Kartik Sharma Senior Correspondent: Harshal Yashwant Desai JAIPUR BUREAU Associate Editor: Kartik Sharma CHANDIGARH BUREAU Assistant Editor: Priya Yadav
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The Holy City Soaring High Towards Urban Development Amritsar, the very name exudes a sense of spirituality and peace. Home to the holy Golden Temple, the biggest and most visited gurudwaras, or shrine for the followers of Sikhism, Amritsar is one of the most visited cities. Amritsar has been chosen as one of the heritage cities for HRIDAY - Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana scheme of Government of India. Amritsar is also selected as the Smart City project by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA). I am glad to announce that Elets Technomedia, in association with Amritsar Smart City, Amritsar Development Authority and Airports Authority of India is organising a one of a kind Urban Development and Aviation Summit. This issue of eGov magazine to be launched at this Summit bears the hallmark of the urban development of Amritsar and the Aviation sector on a whole. This is the first time that Aviation Sector will be discussed at length — among the topics that will be discussed will include Policy and Regulatory Environment in Aviation Industry, India as a Global Aviation Hub and Creating Regional Hubs , Opportunities in Air Cargo sector and UDAN Mission. Special focus will be given to the use of technology and innovation to solve problems related to today’s age of rapid urbanisation. This edition of eGov magazine carries a bouquet of interviews from the Aviation industry, Usha Padhee, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation and CMD, Pawan Hans Limited; Komal Mittal, CEO, Amritsar Smart City Limited; Harbir Singh, Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Amritsar; Vipul Mittra, Additional Chief Secretary, Labour & Employment, Gujarat and many more. I hope the bouquet of interviews and articles in this issue of eGov will keep our esteemed readers updated on the progress made in the fields of urban development and Aviation sector.
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CONTENTS 08 Amritsar: Taking Leap of Faith to Realise Urban Development Vision
12 USHA PADHEE
16 KOMAL MITTAL
20 HARBIR SINGH
Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation and CMD, Pawan Hans Limited
CEO, Amritsar Smart City Limited
Commissioner, Municipal Corporation Amritsar
22 ANIL KUMAR PATHAK
Member (Planning) Airport Authority of India (AAI)
29 VIPUL MITTRA
32 VIVEK
Additional Chief Secretary, Labour & Employment, Gujarat
Joint Secretary (Crops & IT) and CEO-PM Kisan
AGGARWAL
26 Amritsar Scheming on to a Productive Road-Map with HRIDAY 40 MANOJ
CHANSORIA
Airport Director, Amritsar, Airport Authority
36 How Exhibitions are Broadening Afghanistan’s Business Horizon
COVER STORY
Amritsar is one of the traditional cities in India which is home to the famous Golden Temple, biggest shrine for the followers of Sikhism. The city is witness to India’s best as well as worst times. Now, Amritsar, one of the cities chosen for Smart City projects under the Smart City Mission, is taking a leap towards urban development, writes Priya Yadav of Elets News Network (ENN).
AMRITSAR:
TAKING LEAP OF FAITH TO REALISE URBAN DEVELOPMENT VISION 8
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Amritsar is a tourist’s delight! It has all the ingredients that go into making an ideal destination. Ancient legends, historical monuments, places of worship, old bazaars, theatre traditions and colorful festivals all reflect its robust past. It is little wonder then that the city enjoys the highest footfall in the world -- about 1.25 lakh people visit the city on daily basis. This is more than the footfall
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anywhere in the world -- Paris’ Eiffel Tower is second to this. Take a walk in the city and you will stumble across houses, shops with quaint old designs and typical thin bricks -- a trademark of old constructions that almost the entire old city bore signs of. Every nook and corner of the city is steeped in rich history. True to the character of any tourist city, you can pedal your way through the entire city and seep in its glory.
Amritsar has witnessed the horrors of country’s partition up close. The elderly in the city recount the spine chilling scenes when trains filled with dead bodies pulled in at the railway station from across the border during the massacres that followed during partition in 1947.
The city has witnessed one of the worst genocide in human history when hundreds of people, taking part in a peaceful public meeting, were brutally killed by British at Jallianwala Bagh. This was in 1919 and 100 years later Jallianwala Bagh, in the heart of the city, still bears the scars of bullets.
But Amritsar has a true Punjabi neversay-die spirit that is an inspiration for the rest of the world. Post Pulwama attack when relations with neighbouring Pakistan have hit rock bottom, Punjab is gearing up to open the Kartarpur Sahib corridor with Pakistan -- the corridor is intended
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COVER STORY
A
mritsar is the land of faith and hope. It has seen the best of times and the worst of times. But every time Amritsar, the birthplace of Sikhism, has emerged as a beacon of hope. The city, barely 30 kms from Pakistan border, with its ancient legacy and ambition of being world class smart city, is embracing the future with open arms.
A city with its feet planted in the past, Amritsar is set to embrace the smart city dream. Part of the Smart City Mission — an urban renewal and retrofitting programme of the Union government to make 100 cities citizen-friendly and sustainable — Amritsar was included in the mission’s third list of 27 cities on September 20, 2016, for the flagship scheme.
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to allow religious devotees from India to visit the Gurdwara in Kartarpur, 4.7 kilometres (2.9 miles) from the PakistanIndia border, without a visa. The corridor, which extends from Dera Baba Nanak to Kartarpur Sahib will be thrown open on November 9, 2019.
Amritsar – Most Visited Religious Places
There holy city, in true sense of the term, embraces people belonging to every religion and offers them a peaceful abode to practice the faith of their choice.
Smart City Dream A city with its feet planted in the past, Amritsar is set to embrace the smart city
COVER STORY
For millions of Sikhs around the globe, Amritsar is the most revered city and home to the sacred most Golden Temple. Records indicate that Guru Amardas purchased the land from
According to the 2011 Census of India, the percentage of Hindu population in the city is 49.4 percent. Apart from that, Christianity is followed by 1.23 percent of the people and 0.51 percent of the population follow Islam religion.
Emperor Akbar to build a tank at the site in early 16th century. Following his death, it was completed by Guru Ramdas and also came to be known as Chak Ramdas or Guru ka Chak. Some of the oldest markets in Amritsar, notably Guru ka Bazaar, date back to his time. The construction of the Golden Temple was initiated by Guru Arjan Dev while Guru Hargobind, who accorded the religion a martial temper, built the Akal Takht in 1606. Although Amritsar is often termed as the most visited religious places and the city is dwelled by majorly Sikh population, there is no dearth of a secular spirit.
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dream. Part of the Smart City Mission — an urban renewal and retrofitting programme of the Union government to make 100 cities citizen-friendly and sustainable — Amritsar was included in the mission’s third list of 27 cities on September 20, 2016, for the flagship scheme. As part of the scheme, tourists and people thronging the Heritage Street, adjoining Golden Temple complex, are getting free Wi-Fi service. The smart city project will see initiation of e-buses and e-rickshaws to improve connectivity with the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) stations under green and sustainable
public transport project. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs awarded funds for the implementation of this project. Perhaps the biggest project that the civic body is looking at is providing 24x7 surface water supply to people in the city. “World Bank is assisting us in working out the project and our aim is to provide uninterrupted water supply to residents, “says Komal Mittal, CEO of Amritsar Smart City Limited. The Centre too has vision to develop Amritsar as a model for sustainable and inclusive development with no one left behind, a model for modern rural and urban infrastructure. Amritsar will be developed as the gateway to North India with world-class connectivity by road, rail and air, an international industrial and trading hub, an international tourism destination with a religious, culinary, cultural, artistic and medical appeal and a hub for educational excellence at all levels in all major areas. Hardeep Puri, Union Minister of state for Urban Development, during his recent visit to the city had unveiled 23 factors to realise his dream for the border district. These are the Smart City project to be taken up on war footing, Swachh Bharat accelerated to the next stage, increasing investment, upgrading international airport to connect with all major international capitals, a high-speed train corridor with Delhi, extension of dedicated freight rail corridor up to Attari.
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Another initiative taken under the Smart City project includes procurement of about 60 sanitary napkin vending machines which will be placed at all the senior secondary schools. Talking about the rapid urbanisation, Harbir Singh, Commissioner, Municipal Corporation of Amritsar says, “New colonies are coming up in Amritsar, which are rapidly urbanising. Work is ongoing to integrate them with the city, keeping our limited resources in mind.”
Waste and Water Management Managing and conserving water resources as well as waste management are the areas of priority for the Amritsar civic authorities. “In garbage management, we have hired Essel Infraprojects, a Pune based company. We are also going for waste segregation at source in all the wards. We have completed four to five wards and partially completed seven to eight wards,” says Singh.
The Smart City project also envisages 24*7 water supply within the city. “For 24*7 water supply, we have tendered the Water Treatment Plant (WTP) component of the project. This is a very big project costing roughly around Rs 1700 to Rs 1800 crore and this is for the 24x7 surface water supply to the citizens,” says Mittal.
The Amritsar Smart City Limited is working towards installing LED lights across the city. Shedding light on the same, Mittal states, “All the conventional lights will be retrofitted with LED lights in the city. Moreover, we have infused IT in the system to manage it better. The lights will have a Centralised Control & Monitoring System (CCMS) component in them so that they can be centrally controlled and we can get alerts if a light is not working well. This is a pan-city project, which covers all the street lights. Samudra, a Pune based company is doing the work in a joint venture with SMC Infra, which is the main financing company behind this project, which has a cost of Rs 36 crore.”
Smart Road Project Under the smart road project, a 7.5 km stretch of road outside the periphery of the walled city. This project is of Rs 135 crore worth and has been tendered out already. Under this project, all the utilities will be shifted underground. There will be footpaths, cycle tracks and horticulture along with proper parking spaces, vending zones, auto bi-lanes, and bus bi-lanes.
COVER STORY
Projects such as Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) and National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) are also taken up within the city to improve basic infrastructural amenities for the citizens.
Talking about the rapid urbanisation, Harbir Singh, Commissioner, Municipal Corporation of Amritsar says, “New colonies are coming up in Amritsar, which are rapidly urbanising. Work is ongoing to integrate them with the city, keeping our limited resources in mind.”
Smart Lighting System
There are several other projects in the pipeline, such as Integrated Command and Control Centre, Smart Parking, free Wi-Fi spots at the Heritage Street, renewable energy generation to name a few. The members of the civic bodies and SPV are hopeful of realising the Smart City dream in Amritsar soon, without affecting the traditional and spiritual flavour of the city.
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POLICYMAKER’S PERSPECTIVE
How UDAN is A Game Changer in Aviation Sector UDAN has transformed the way people travel in remote areas. Whether it is Pithoragarh, Passighat, Jharsuguda, Kishangarh etc., people have adopted air transportation due to the benefits it has provided, says Usha Padhee, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation and CMD, Pawan Hans Limited in an exclusive interview with Sanghamitra Mohanty & Krishna Mishra of Elets News Network (ENN). USHA PADHEE
Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation and CMD, Pawan Hans Limited
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POLICYMAKER’S PERSPECTIVE
How UDAN Scheme is changing the game of aviation sector in the country? National Civil Aviation Policy 2016 was announced in June, 2016 by the Govt. of India after approval by the Union Cabinet. In compliance with the NCAP 2016, Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) UDAN (Ude Deshka Aam Naagrik) was introduced with an aim to stimulate air connectivity by making it affordable. RCS-UDAN is an innovative scheme first of its kind and airfare for one hour journey of approx. 500 km on a Fixed Wing Aircraft or a 30 minute flight on a helicopter connecting unserved/ underserved airports to key airports is capped at Rs 2,500. Under the ambit of this scheme, few incentives are offered to airlines to commence their operations on regional routes.
“Although India is the third largest aviation market in world’s aviation industry, still connectivity by air to tier-II and tier-III cities has been a matter of great concern.”
Since Independence till 2016, India had about 70 airports having scheduled operations. But, within three years under UDAN, 23 unserved and 19 underserved airports are operational involving 208 routes. Going forward, the scheme envisages to award close to 350 additional routes in the next three years. This would help MoCA to achieve the objective of operationalising close to 100 additional airports in the next five years. UDAN has transformed the way people travel in remote areas. Whether it is Pithoragarh, Passighat, Jharsuguda, Kishangarh etc., people have adopted air transportation due to the benefits it has provided. So far, 20 lakh people have travelled to adopt air transportation to give impetus to the Civil Aviation sector.
cities has been a matter of great concern. To provide connectivity to tier-II and tier-III cities, RCS-UDAN, an innovative scheme based on a unique business model was launched by MoCA in 2017.
Why it is important to connect smaller and tier II or tier III cities with flight connectivity? Although India is the third largest aviation market in world’s aviation industry, still connectivity by air to tier-II and tier-III
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Air connectivity plays a decisive role in the economic growth of the country. Air connectivity also attracts business investments and human resources. Air travel has seen massive growth around the world with millions of people joining the global middle class and India, in particular, has seen an extraordinary
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growth in Civil Aviation sector. International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) study shows that the air connectivity would have economic multipliers of 3.1 times and employment multiplier of six. The linkage between the Civil Aviation sector and the economic activity and its impact on the general development of India has been well recognised. Direct benefits generated by Air Transport Connectivity which include employment and economic activity have boosted over the last couple of years in India. Air Transport in India is at the cusp of an unstoppable forward march towards reaching eminence in the aviation industry in the years to come. MOCA has successfully concluded three rounds of regional routes bidding in addition to an international connectivity round and the following are some of the achievements of the scheme: a. Spread of connectivity: A large number of unconnected areas are now present on aviation map of the country, with changing ownership pattern. Connectivity proposed under UDAN-1 has commenced and is stable. Focus is on expediting connectivity under UDAN-2. A number of routes were awarded
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POLICYMAKER’S PERSPECTIVE
under UDAN-3 in January 2019. b. Participation of Startup Airlines: The enhanced fiscal support in the form of VGF (Viable Gap Funding), concession on fuel rates, landing/parking charges and the infrastructural development of un-served airports have not only boosted the operations of giant airline companies but has also lead to the participation of regional start-up airlines such as Turbo Megha Airways, Star Air and TrueJet, which are operating exceptionally well. c. Routes spread: Currently, connectivity has already been provided to more than 22 States/UTs in the country. The connectivity mechanism has been designed considering the potential of India’s smaller industrial hubs and tourism centers which were earlier not on the aviation map. Post connectivity of the Tourism Routes, there has been a steady growth in the arrival of foreign tourists and forex earnings thereof. d. Number of RCS Seats: More than one crore RCS seats annually will be provided based on three rounds of UDAN completed till date. e. Unserved airports: The scheme has provided connectivity to 23 unserved and 17 underserved airports in the country; and aims to reach the target of operationalizing 100 unserved airports by the year 2026-27. f. Additional State Incentives: Various State Governments/Union Territories (UTs) such as Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Andaman & Nicobar have announced additional incentives to promote regional operations under UDAN-RCS. g. New City Pairs: More than 650 new city pairs are now scheduled to be connected under the scheme (200 already connected). The routes are widely spread geographically, providing connectivity across the length and breadth of the country, ensuring balanced regional growth. Raipur-Jharsuguda and BhubneshwarJharsuguda are the newest routes which started off with operations
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Technological advancement and innovation has been the driving factor for improving airlines operational efficiency. Airlines have been able to reduce costs and improve operations by using advanced technology. under Alliance Air on June 5, 2019. h. Increased aircraft fleet: Noticing the success of SpiceJet Airlines in UDAN-1 with the additions of 16 Q-400 aircraft to their fleet, Indigo
Airlines, which did not bid at all in the first round, came up to bid in UDAN-2 adding a fleet of the 72 seater ATR 72-600 aircraft, Alliance Air purchased 10 ATR 72-600 aircraft and Star Air acquired two Embraer-145 aircraft for operating RCS routes, which reflects how confident the industry has been towards the scheme. As an industry average, each aircraft to employee ratio in an airline is 1:100; it means 100 employees for each aircraft. As the ICAO Study suggests that each job in the aviation industry could lead to six indirect jobs which means this expansion of aircraft fleet of Indigo and other airlines is all set to invite new job opportunities. i. Development of Greenfield Airports: The scheme has also lead to the development of new Greenfield airports such as Pakyong Airport near Gangtok in Sikkim and Tezu Airport in Arunachal Pradesh which aim to connect the tourism routes. j. Tourism Routes: The fact that India is gifted with huge opportunities in terms of the tourism led to the introduction of routes connecting major tourism hubs of our nation which have been performing
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POLICYMAKER’S PERSPECTIVE
Water Aerodromes connect Major Tourism Sites such as Statue of Unity in Gujarat, Assam’s Umrangso Reservoir and Havelock in Andaman. The development of these Water Aerodromes would lead to the commencement of seaplanes which in turn would foster job opportunities in the region.
What are the challenges of aviation sector in the country?
exceptionally well. Till date, 46 routes have been connected and the operations of these routes have lead to a steady growth in the arrival of foreign tourists and forex earnings thereof. The latest routes which started operating under M/s SpiceJet are Jaipur-Amritsar and AhmedabadUdaipur which are performing very efficiently. k. Development of Heliports: The hilly regions of the nation including Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand have received air connectivity via helicopters; thus leading to development of 30 heliports under UDAN-2 in January 2018. l. Development of Water Aerodromes: The third round of UDAN has witnessed the development of 10 Water Aerodromes which are all set to commence operations. M/s SpiceJet and M/s Turbo Aviation would be operating Water Aerodromes in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Andaman and Nicobar Islands would be operating three, Telangana would be operating one, Gujarat would be operating three, Assam would be operating two and Andhra Pradesh will be operating one These
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There are cases where the operational efficiency of the RCS flights are not up to the mark but at the same time, it is important to note that these events are happening due to certain unavoidable circumstances such as weather constraints. These are primarily the situations where the number of flights that an airline is supposed to operate as per the Selected Airline Operator Agreement (SAOA) has not operated successfully. As per the provisions of RCS-UDAN Scheme Document, 70 percent of the routes should be operated by the airlines in a given time. However, the flights have not been able to operate to their optimum level due to the following reasons: i. Bad weather. ii. Closure of airport for maintenance work. iii. Lack of Night Landing Facility. iv. Lack of fuelling facilities. v. High ATF Prices. vi. Slow development and certification of airport. vii. Capacity requirement at the level of State Governments/UTs to develop infrastructure.
How Technology and Innovation are playing a pivotal role? Technological advancement and innovation has been the driving factor for improving airlines operational efficiency. Airlines have been able to reduce costs and improve operations by using advanced aircraft engine technology, IT solutions and mobile
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technology. The technology has created better connectivity and enhanced passengers travel experience. Utilising appropriate technologies in Air Navigation Services, Airlines, MROs, Bio-fuels, etc., the sustainability of air transport can be enhanced. Drones are the New Generation Technology which can change the way people travel or transport the cargo from one place to another.
What are the Key Policy Measures to boost the aviation sector? Hon’ble Finance Minister in his Budget Speech of 2017 announced to make adequate provisions for revival of unserved and underserved airports. Accordingly, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the proposal of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and sanctioned Rs. 4,500 crore for revival and development of 50 un-served and underserved airports or airstrips of the State Governments, Airport Authority of India and helipads. So, infrastructure development is one of the key segments for expansion of Civil Aviation sector. Similarly, 2019 Union Budget focussed on MRO and leasing facilities to be provided in India for growth of Civil Aviation sector. Taxation on ATF, MRO and other eco system of Civil Aviation has to be rationalised for private participation and investment in Civil Aviation sector. Enabling policies for technological intervention like Drone Operations Start Ups etc. to be encouraged for innovations in Civil Aviation sector. Promotion of Ease of Doing Business at the level of Government and Regulatory Mechanism would provide impetus to growth of Civil Aviation sector.
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SPOTLIGHT: AMRITSAR SMART CITY
Amritsar is being revamped with multiple urban development projects In this exclusive interview with Priya Yadav of Elets News Network (ENN), Komal Mittal, CEO, Amritsar Smart City Limited and Chief Administrator, Amritsar Development Authority, talks about various Smart City projects being undertaken in Amritsar. “A total of around Rs 500 to Rs 600 crore of projects in the city have been tendered out. By September 15, all the tenders will be opening up,� Mittal says.
Komal Mittal
CEO, Amritsar Smart City Limited
For 24x7 water supply, we have tendered the Water Treatment Plant (WTP) component of the project. This is a very big project costing roughly around Rs 1700 to Rs 1800 crore and this is for the 24x7 surface water supply to the citizens of Amritsar.
What are the ongoing projects of Amritsar Smart City Limited and what is the road ahead? We have major projects in road infrastructure, water supply, sewerage, transportation, Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) Master Systems Integrator (MSI), etc. One project is based on LED lighting. In this, all the conventional lights will be retrofitted with LED lights in the city. Moreover, we have infused IT in the system to manage it better. The lights will have a Centralised Control & Monitoring System (CCMS) component in them so that they can be centrally controlled and we can get alerts if a light is not working well. This is a pan-city project, which covers all the street lights. Samudra, a Pune based company is doing the work in a joint venture with SMC Infra, which is the main financing company behind this project, which has a cost of Rs 36 crore.
Is there any Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) project being done in the city?
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An EESL project started here in Amritsar, but there were some issues so the project was curtailed in between and a fresh tender was issued under Smart City, which has been allotted and is likely to be completed within the next four to five months.
What are the small projects being implemented? We have some small projects which are under implementation. One of the projects is installing Wi-Fi at the Heritage Street walk. We will be providing free Wi-Fi to the people who visit and do business there. It is under implementation and will be live within the next month. It is a Rs 3.5 crore project being done by Netplus, a Delhi based internet provider. Another one is a project on solar roof panels on the government buildings. We have selected around 17 government buildings where the panels will be installed. This work has already commenced. The column work is going on at the moment. The approximate value of the project is Rs10 crore, which is done
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SPOTLIGHT: AMRITSAR SMART CITY
by an Uttarakhand based company, Mittal Enterprises and the execution is being looked after by Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA). The other project related to smart classrooms. We are building at least one smart classroom in all the schools of the city. It is under the Smart City project for the government schools. For this, we have transferred funds to the DirectorGeneral of School Education (DGSE), Department of School Education and they have started the project; 50 per cent of the work has been done and the rest 50 per cent is under implementation. It is a Rs 6.92 crore project. We are converting 17 open spaces to parks. These are open spaces and some of them are in a very poor shape. We will re-develop these spaces. For this also, the work has started. We have taken care of all the components, the civil work, horticulture work, lights, benches, gym and play equipments.
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There are some other small projects which have been tendered out like the procurement of tool kits for Anganwadi centres, bottle crushers, sanitary vending machines and incinerators for senior secondary schools and public toilets in the city. There is an elevated corridor in the city, which spans approximately five to six kilometers. Horticulture, civil works and LED lighting will be done in the spaces below this elevated corridor. These are all tendered out. We are also doing rainwater harvesting.
What are your initiatives to ensure 24x7 water supply across the city? For 24x7 water supply, we have tendered the Water Treatment Plant (WTP) component of the project. This is a very big project costing roughly around Rs 1700 to Rs 1800 crore and this is for the 24x7 surface water supply to the citizens of Amritsar. Right now, we are completely
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dependent upon the underground water. In this project, we will be shifting the water source from underground to surface water. Upper Bari Doab canal will be the source. This kind of project has not been done anywhere in India yet. World Bank is a partner in this project and one of their teams already here in the city to carry out the survey and designing part for the water distribution network. For the WTP, a tender has already been floated. The World Bank has a deadline of around three months to prepare the water distribution network. Once the distribution network is ready, we will tender it out. It is a big project. Such projects roughly take two to three years, even after the execution has started. Part of this project will be funded through Smart City; the other part is being done by Municipal Corporation and Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board.
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SPOTLIGHT: AMRITSAR SMART CITY
competition between all the 100 smart cities. All 100 of them submitted DPRs and among them, our project for Sustainable Green Transport was selected and we won a grant of Rs 80 crore. Under this, we have to create a charging infrastructure in the city and promote e-rickshaws and e-buses in the city. This is being done under the guidance of AFD and National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), Delhi, which is acting as a sort of a mentor agency for this project apart from providing the financial support. A total of around Rs 500 to Rs 600 crore of projects in the city have been tendered out.
Could you tell us about any other projects that come under Smart City? We have an Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) project, which is already floated at Rs 125 crores. It is similar to the work being done in other smart cities. The other project on pipeline is the smart road project for a 7.5 km stretch of road outside the periphery of the walled city. This project is of Rs 135 crore worth and has been tendered out already. Under this project, all the utilities will be shifted underground. There will be footpaths, cycle tracks and horticulture along with proper parking spaces, vending zones, auto bi-lanes, and bus bi-lanes. We have another important project for the rehabilitation of sewerage system in the entire walled city. This sewerage system dates back to more than a 100 years. De-silting will be done and new lines will be put in where required. This project costs somewhere around Rs 66 crore and has been tendered out already. We are also improving 22 main junctions in the city. These junctions will be developed with street lights, traffic lights, horticulture landscaping,
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etc. Then we have a pilot project for the cycle tracks in the city, which is yet to commence. We are doing a pilot of 2.5 km in the Ranjit Avenue area, because it has really wide roads and good infrastructure so if the pilot is successful there, we can implement it across the whole city. The estimate for this project is Rs 3.5 crore. A small sports complex already exists in the city under the Municipal Corporation but right now it is not in a very good stage. Hence, we will be developing a sports complex in Golbagh stadium. The tender is ready and under a betting stage. Then we have a project for the improvement of electrical infrastructure in the city. We will be shifting the electric cables underground on somewhere around 25 to 30 km of roads. We are focusing on areas where the network of electric cables is very poor and dangerous. We have collaboration with Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) in this regard. The Detailed Project Report (DPR) is almost ready and the process of approval with PSPCL is going on. Also, there is one more project under Amritsar Smart City. There was a competition launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs in coordination with the French Development Agency (AFD). This was a
Tentatively, when are these tenders opening up, is there any deadline for this? By September 15, all the tenders will be opening up. Some are already under technical evaluation, some have been opened. I can say by the end of September all of these tenders will be switched on.
Are there any Tourist Information Centres opening in the city? Tourist Information Centres are being developed. The DPR is being prepared. The projects, for which the DPRs are ready, are under approval stage.
What are the projects you are planning or being executed in terms of Housing and Urban Development? We have few urban state projects going in Amritsar as well as in Gurdaspur, Batala, etc. where we are providing the housing facilities to the citizens. We are providing Change of Land Use (CLU) facility, approving the building plans and regularising the colonies which have been cut. Many other similar works are being done.
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MUNICIPAL CORPORATION OF AMRITSAR
Creating Citizen Awareness on Source Segregation and Disposal of Garbage Amritsar is a heritage city. Our focus is to introduce modern urban planning initiatives along with maintaining the city’s heritage, says Harbir Singh, Commissioner, Municipal Corporation Amritsar, in an exclusive interview with Elets News Network (ENN). Singh also shares the current focus and future vision of the Municipal Corporation of Amritsar.
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MUNICIPAL CORPORATION OF AMRITSAR
What is your main focus as the Commissioner of Municipal Corporation of Amritsar? Our main focus is on improving the sanitation and financial conditions of the Amritsar population. By financial conditions, I mean increasing their income and decrease their expenses.
What is Municipal Corporation of Amritsar planning for the city’s overall urban development other than smart city development?
Could you please throw some light on projects like garbage management, sewerage management and water supply?
Other than Smart City projects, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) and National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) projects are being done.
In garbage management, we have hired Essel Infraprojects, a Pune based company, although I am not very happy with their performance, we are still trying to get things done.
Amritsar is one of the oldest towns in India. In a lot of inner city areas, old infrastructure like water supply and sewerage has to be rejuvenated. Work has already been initiated in this regard. Also, new colonies are coming up, which are rapidly urbanising. Work is ongoing to integrate them with the city, keeping our limited resources in mind.
For the main arteries, we have a company which is doing sweeping and collection of the garbage but in other areas, our employees are doing it. We are also going for waste segregation at source in all the wards. We have completed four to five wards and partially completed seven to eight wards.
What are the initiatives that have been taken for such projects?
As Amritsar is a heritage city, how are you maintaining the basic infrastructure and looking at the agenda as the Commissioner? We have a walled city area and a Heritage Street. A dedicated company, along with our corporation employees, looks after the cleanliness of the town, especially in the Heritage Street. Other areas have been divided into wards with corresponding ward inspectors.
There are activities going on for involving people and spreading awareness about garbage collection, segregation and disposal. We have counsellors going from home to home with a mission to convince people to follow waste segregation at source.
We are also working on improving our systems by incorporating the latest technologies.
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Segregation dry and wet wastes will help us making the town cleaner. Our next step will be to clear legacy garbage which is lying in dumps.
What are the major challenges that you face in such projects while planning and executing? Major problem is the old town. Amritsar has got a very modern area as well as an old area. The city features broad modern roads as well as small narrow streets surrounded by old dilapidated buildings where even sunlight doesn’t come. Then there are emerging colonies and industrial areas. With limited funds, we have to correlate our expenses with the demands of the people.
What is your vision as the Commissioner of Municipal Corporation of Amritsar and how you see Amritsar in the coming years? I think Amritsar is a very nice city. We have initiated a project to have a river-based water supply system in Amritsar to do away with the tube-wells. Since the groundwater table is already getting depleted, we can just do away with it. We are in a very advanced stage regarding this project; we have already finalised the location of the Water Treatment Plant (WTP). It is a big project which will be a gamechanger for Amritsar.
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SPOTLIGHT: AIRPORT AUTHORITY OF INDIA
Airport Authority of India: Focus on Greenfield Airports and Infrastructure Upgrade
Anil Kumar Pathak
Member (Planning) Airport Authority of India (AAI)
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Though aviation is a capital intensive industry, airport operator has to provide the capacity well ahead of the demand. Therefore, investment in the airport infrastructure projects has to be made prudently and judiciously, says Anil Kumar Pathak, Member (Planning), Airport Authority of India (AAI), in this exclusive interview with Sanghamitra Mohanty of Elets News Network (ENN). Pathak talks at length about the plans of AAI to develop the infrastructure of the airports across different tiers, as well as Greenfield airports.
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SPOTLIGHT: AIRPORT AUTHORITY OF INDIA
With increasing passenger load and exposure to air travel, how are the expectations of passengers for top class infrastructure at airports, even in smaller cities, being met and how realistic are these expectations? Indian aviation is on the high growth trajectory during the last four to five years, especially India’s domestic traffic witnessed double digit growth for continuous 52 months till December 2018. As a result, all Indian airports taken together handled 345 million passengers during 2018-19 registering the growth of 11.6 percent over the previous year. In CAGR terms, total passengers have witnessed the growth of 15.3 percent during the last five years. In the last five years, modernisation and
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upgradation of various existing and operational airports has been completed by AAI. The construction of Terminal Buildings in these airports is mostly steel and glass structures with large spans, so as to ensure smooth movement space for the passengers. The facilities in these Terminal Buildings are state-of-the-art and are aimed to improve the passenger safety and comfort. Care has been taken to facilitate differently abled, elderly persons and children by providing user-friendly ramps, separate toilets, child care rooms, etc. New airport has been developed at Kishangarh. The airports at Hubbali, Belagavi have been developed for operation of A-320 type of aircraft. New terminal buildings have been inaugurated at Bikaner, Chandigarh, Tirupati, Khajuraho, Vadodara, Vijaywada, Jammu, Gorakhpur and Goa. A greenfield airport has been developed
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at Pakyong, Sikkim. For addressing the infrastructure issue, Government has granted in Principal approval for construction of 20 greenfield airports, out of which three airports in Durgapur, Shirdi and Pakyong have been commissioned. Development and upgradation of airports is a continuous process and is undertaken by AAI from time to time. In India, capacity is being created ahead of the demand.
According to you, which are India’s best and worst airports in terms of infrastructure? To evaluate the satisfaction of the passengers with the service provided at the airport, two types of surveys are conducted at airports depending upon the throughput of traffic at the airport. ACI-ASQ survey is carried out at airports
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SPOTLIGHT: AIRPORT AUTHORITY OF INDIA
having throughput of 1.5 MMPA or more, this threshold has recently been raised to 3.5 MMPA or more. While at the other operational airports, Customer Satisfaction Survey (CSS) is conducted through independent agency. Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Survey is the world-renowned and internationally established global benchmarking programme measuring passengers’ satisfaction, whilst they travel through an airport, across 37 key performance indicators that includes eight major categories such as access, check-in, security, airport facilities, food & beverage, retail, airport environment and arrival services. This program is conducted by Airports Council International (ACI), is a global non-profit organisation of Airport Operators. In the year 2018, ACI-ASQ survey was carried out at around 346 airports across North America, Latin America and Caribbean, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia. ASQ Survey was carried out at 26 airports across India during the year 2018 out of which 20 were AAI airports. The average ASQ rating of 26 Indian airports was 4.71 and for 20 AAI airports was 4.64 as compared to the world average of 4.21 for the year 2018. The unrelenting pursuit for excellence in concert with conviction for providing world-class airports by AAI has been acknowledged with four AAI airports getting the top honours in the recently announced ASQ awards. The four airports viz. Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh and Indore won nine awards in different categories.
What are the new concepts and initiatives being worked on for the betterment of airport infrastructure? With the introduction of technological
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“In the last five years, modernisation and upgradation of various existing and operational airports has been completed by AAI. The construction of Terminal Buildings in these airports is mostly steel and glass structures with large spans, so as to ensure smooth movement space for the passengers.” advancement, the following initiatives are being undertaken at AAI Airports: (i) CUTE, CUSS services have been introduced at major AAI airports. (ii) Airports Operations Control Centre (AOCC) has already been introduced at the following 12 airports, namely, Trivandrum, Calicut, Trichy, Mangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Lucknow, Guwahati, Goa, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Pune. The AOCC is the command, coordination and control centre for the whole airport which integrates the diverse processes relating to the three major operational areas — passenger, baggage and cargo, and aircraft. Essentially, it is the brain and the nervous system of the airport in the sense that it gathers, processes, generates and disseminates all kind of information; in the epicentre of the activities of the centre, the decision
making and initiation of action, relevant to planning and real-time management of resources and airport operations. (iii) DIGIYATRA is likely to be introduced in the next six months at four airport viz., Kolkata, Varanasi, Pune and Vijayawada airports. Digi Yatra is Digital processing of passengers at the airports. Passengers will be automatically processed based on facial recognition system at check points like; Entry point check, Entry in to Security Check, Aircraft Boarding, Additionally, this will also facilitate self-Bag Drop and Check-in, using facial recognition to identify pax and data recall. Digi Yatra will facilitate paperless travel and avoid identity check at multiple points. (iv) Smart Security Lane with Automated Tray Retrieval System (ATRS) is likely to be introduced in March 2020 at five airports viz., Chennai, Kolkata, Trivandrum, Ahmedabad and Goa airports. Once the new smart security lane system is commissioned, families can all be screened together, thereby reducing wait time and congestion at security checkpoints. As well as improving passenger experience, the technology such as body scanner will boost the airport’s efficiency. (v) Inline Baggage System is introduced at 10 airports viz., Chennai, Kolkata, Trivandrum, Goa, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Varanasi, Srinagar and Calicut airports. (vi) The government plans to revise the regulatory framework for airports as well as look at having multiple aerodromes in metros as part of long term efforts to boost capacity amid rising passenger numbers. An appropriate framework for the next 15 to 20 years would be worked out under NABH Nirman for creating capacity ahead of demand.
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SPOTLIGHT: AIRPORT AUTHORITY OF INDIA
Which airports in tier II and III cities are being revamped for better connectivity?
“AAI is not just building new greenfield airports but is also upgrading its airside infrastructure at a rapid pace with works like runway extension, strengthening and resurfacing of runways, setting up adequate ground installations like Instrument Landing System (ILS) etc.”
Though aviation is a capital intensive industry, airport operator has to provide the capacity well ahead of the demand. Therefore, investment in the airport infrastructure projects has to be made prudently and judiciously. The infrastructure and aircraft requirement to meet the growth in the air traffic demands huge investments in Civil Aviation Sector. Around one lakh crore of investments are expected to be pumped into Airport Sector in the next five years out of which AAI alone will invest 25,000 crores for infrastructure creation. AAI has drawn up an ambitious infrastructure development plan. There is a CAPEX outlay of Rs. 25,000 crore up to 2022-23. New Terminal Buildings and expansion of Terminal Buildings has been planned at Agartala, Guwahati, Vijayawada, Leh, Patna, Imphal, Chennai, Trichy, Srinagar, Pune, Lucknow, Mangalore, Dehradun and Jaipur to directly augment passenger capacity of these airports. Work is in progress at Calicut, Port Blair, Agartala, Lucknow and Dehradun New Civil Enclaves are planned at Defence airports where civil enclave already exists, viz. Agra, Allahabad, Kanpur, Bagdogra and Jammu. New civil enclaves will be established at Bareilly, Adampur and Purnea. For addressing the infrastructure issue Government has granted in Principal approval for construction of 20 green-field airports, out of which three airports Durgapur, Shirdi and Pakyong have been commissioned.
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How can airport infrastructure in smaller cities be made more cost effective? AAI has developed a model for No Frill airports for smaller cities, which will provide essential services needed to operationalise the airports, without in any way compromising safety and security. The criteria of population, distance, potential, tourism, industry etc. has been taken for selection of locations for these airports. This will result in less cost of operation and make it viable for the airlines with smaller aircraft to run their services. These airports will consist of modular building concept, pre-fab structure with maximum use of natural light, optimum commercial spaces.Normal conveyer belts, low cost energy efficient technology for lighting,
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air-conditioning, water management, STP etc. to be adopted for low cost airports. Airport will have air-strips catering to small aircraft like ATR and Bombardier made Q-400, mobile / pre-fab ATC Tower with fire station, these budget airports will improve regional connectivity. Due to less infrastructure and operational costs, no-frills airports would help incentivise lower ticket rates resulting in higher air passenger volume. It has to be a collaborative approach by the State and Central governments as well as airlines for the no-frills airports to succeed.
What is the major thrust on in current scenario in airport development? For addressing the infrastructure issue, Government has granted in Principal approval for construction of 20 green-field airports. Second airports are being constructed and planned in the cities where the scope of further expansion at existing airports doesn’t exist. AAI is also planning to create 10 water aerodromes under RCS-UDAN Scheme. According to research institute Oxford Economics, all the top 10 fastest-growing cities by GDP between 2019 and 2035 will be in India. Fast growing cities will have to have commensurate growth in infrastructure. Therefore, AAI is not just building new greenfield airports but is also upgrading its airside infrastructure at a rapid pace with works like runway extension, strengthening and resurfacing of runways, setting up adequate ground installations like Instrument Landing System (ILS) etc.
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SEPTEMBER 2019
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SPOTLIGHT: HRIDAY
Amritsar Scheming on to a Productive RoadMap with HRIDAY National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) was launched on January 21, 2015 with the aim of bringing together urban planning, economic growth and heritage conservation in an inclusive manner to preserve the heritage character of each Heritage City. Elets News Network (ENN) brings an overview of the scheme’s projects and execution status at Amritsar.
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I
ndia is bestowed with rich and diverse natural, historic and cultural resources. However, it is yet to explore the full potential of such resources to its full advantages. Past efforts of conserving historic and cultural resources in Indian cities and towns have often been carried out in isolation from the needs and aspirations of the local communities as well as the main urban development issues, such as local economy, urban planning, livelihoods, service delivery, and infrastructure provision in the areas. The development of heritage cities is not about development and conservation of few monuments, but development of the entire city, its planning, its basic services, the quality of life to its communities, its economy and livelihoods, cleanliness, and security in sum, the reinvigoration of the soul of that city and the explicit manifestation of the its unique character.Â
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SPOTLIGHT: HRIDAY
The main purpose of the City HRIDAY Plan is to create a sustainable Civic Infrastructure Development Plan for areas around tangible heritage assets (identified or approved by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India and State Governments) by identifying gaps through infrastructure need and assessment for physical infrastructure. Since 2006, Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India has initiated various capacity building initiatives with a focus on
development of Indian Heritage cities. Conservation of urban heritage has been often carried out without linkages with the city urban planning processes/tools and local economy and service delivery aspects. National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) was launched on January 21, 2015 with the aim of bringing together urban planning, economic growth and heritage conservation in an inclusive manner to preserve the heritage character of each Heritage City.
With duration of 27 months and a total outlay of Rs. 500 crore, the Scheme is set to be implemented in the following 12 identified Cities viz. Ajmer, Amaravati, Amritsar, Badami, Dwaraka, Gaya, Kanchipuram, Mathura, Puri, Varanasi, Velankanni and Warangal. The main purpose of the City HRIDAY Plan is to create a sustainable Civic Infrastructure Development Plan for areas around tangible heritage assets (identified or approved by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India and State Governments) by identifying gaps through infrastructure need and assessment for physical infrastructure (water supply, sanitation, drainage, waste management, approach roads, footpaths, street lights, tourist conveniences, electricity wiring, landscaping etc.) as per locally applicable standards/norms/bye-laws.
Scheme Detailed Road Map The scheme basically aims to preserve and revitalise soul of the heritage city to reflect the city’s unique character by encouraging aesthetically appealing, accessible, informative and
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SPOTLIGHT: HRIDAY
critical focus areas for development and management.
The project on the upgradation of 21 roads in Zone 1 (i.e. all roads within the walled city leading to Sri Harimandir Sahib) thus, finds precedence in the scheme as an opportunity for systematic interventions to protect the centre secured environment. The Scheme supports development of core heritage infrastructure projects which shall include revitalisation of urban infrastructure for areas around heritage assets identified and approved by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India and State Governments. These initiatives shall include development of water supply, sanitation, drainage, waste management, approach roads,
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footpaths, street lights, tourist conveniences, electricity wiring, landscaping and such citizen services. Being a central sector scheme, this scheme is fully funded. National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) is designated as National Project Management Unit for HRIDAY Scheme and will function as a secretariat for National Mission Directorate (NMD). Of the many cities targeted onto implementing HRIDAY in their spaces, Amritsar was one of them. A city as divine as its scribed history, along with its historic walls and impressive gateways, Amritsar gained importance under the reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, one of the most resplendent figures in Sikh history. The city lies on the Grand Trunk road, Asia’s one of the oldest and longest major roads connecting Eastern & Western parts of Indian sub-continent, built by King Sher Shah Suri in year 1539.
Amritsar’s Plan of Action The City HRIDAY Plan strategically addresses the expansion of the city in the context of these rings of growth. Proposals for each heritage zone are bound together by an overall city mobility plan. The roads radiating out from the centre and areas between these intersections thus, become
Proposals for each zone are targeted on development of the radiating roads and these filler spaces. The project on the upgradation of 21 roads in Zone 1 (i.e. all roads within the walled city leading to Sri Harimandir Sahib) thus, finds precedence in the scheme as an opportunity for systematic interventions to protect the centre from environmental pressures generated by ill planned development which create unmanageable sound pollution and traffic. Recommendations have been made to enable improved rideability, better services and efficient traffic management. Each zone becomes a component in this initiative to improve buffer areas comprising green belts with slow moving traffic and decongested spaces with activities focused on improvement of quality of life for the inhabitants by deviating from commercial activities. Proposals in Zone 2 and 3 aim directly at development of intermediate spaces, while zone 4 focuses on upgradation of the high speed corridor. Through better planning and design interventions, these zones thus are an important initiative in the urban planning scheme to develop a ‘cohesive historic cultural environment’ which contributes to improvement of quality of life for the citizens of Amritsar. The initiatives thus: l Expand the buffer zone l De-stresses the core and l Rejuvenates nodes/ creates opportunities for ‘off shore’ development With the completed projects and the upcoming projects in the pipeline, it is expected that the heritage and holy city of Amritsar will undergo a positive transformation towards a smart, resilient and liveable city.
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SKILL DEVELOPMENT & EMPLOYMENT
Gujarat has the lowest number of unemployed youth in the country: Vipul Mittra Gujarat has the lowest number of unemployed youth in the country. Anybody who wants to work would get a job. This is a result of government’s sincere efforts all these years, which includes the Vibrant Gujarat Summits, says Vipul Mittra, Additional Chief Secretary, Labour & Employment, Gujarat in an exclusive interview with Hemangini Kanth Rajpur of Elets News Network (ENN). In this interview, he gives his insights on skilling and employment in Gujarat.
Vipul Mittra
Additional Chief Secretary, Labour & Employment, Gujarat
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SEPTEMBER 2019
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SKILL DEVELOPMENT & EMPLOYMENT
What steps have the Government of Gujarat has taken to ensure employment generation? Gujarat has 33 districts and each of them has a District Employment Exchange. We are trying to make it all digital very soon so that the employees and the potential employees can get access to each other through the use of technology. Gujarat has the lowest number of unemployed youth in the country. Anybody who wants to work would get a job. This is a result of the government’s sincere efforts all these years, which includes the Vibrant Gujarat Summits.
We have two-three mechanisms for skilling. We have about 287 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in the state. There is more than one ITI in each Taluka so the whole state is covered in a network of ITIs. All these ITIs put together, skill about 1,45,000 to 1,75,000 students every year. These students are skilled in more than 60 trades. We are also tying up with some industries for setting up Bachelor Preparatory Programming (BPP) based ITIs. Also, the industries can adopt certain ITIs by
concept was that, other than the formal system of skilling, we should have short courses of 15 days, one month, two months, etc., basically targeting skilling of women in rural areas. A lot of housewives are taking advantage of courses like cooking, beauty treatments, etc. and large number of such courses are now running. There are several KVKs in each Taluka and lakhs of students, mostly in higher age groups like married women and working men, are upgrading themselves through these short courses. These people are practically uplifting their
We need to match the requirements of the industry to the talents of the youth available. Skill mismatch is the main problem which we are dealing with. We have employed consultants in our employment exchanges and these exchanges have now become career counselling centres. The youth go there, talk to the consultants and understand what opportunities are available. After that, they can apply for the position online by uploading their documents digitally. The employees and potential employees can also look through the database and pick up people. We also conduct Bharti Melas where we provide placement services. Every year, lakhs of youth are employed through these job fairs. These are proper recruitment events and should not be confused with common fairs. These events involve meetings in which detailed interviews and discussions take place. The participating companies interview people and recruit them on the spot.
Are initiatives like Skill India, Digital India and Make in India helping in generation of employment opportunities for the youth?
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bringing their own faculty, equipment, raw materials, etc. so that they can train people and then recruit them after the completion of their course. There is a competition between industries and the state government for providing trained manpower. Other than this, we have Kaushal Vikas Kendras (KVKs) in each Taluka as part of the ecosystem of skilling. This is a precursor to the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) programme, which was launched by our Prime Minister. In fact, this was his brainchild when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat. The
societies through this system. Government is proactively increasing the number of training skills available in the ITIs. Many new skills are being added. We are adding technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), 3D printing, etc. Other than this, we encourage and support private players as well. A large number of people do not want to get into formal education; they want to get a vocational education. In countries like Germany and the UK for example, almost 40 to 50 percent of school pass-outs go straight into occupations.
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SKILL DEVELOPMENT & EMPLOYMENT
We want to create people who are employable, rather than forcing people to do B.A or B.Com because they have nothing else to do.
How is the response from the people of Gujarat? I think the response is great and not only from Gujarat, but people from other states are also coming and taking advantage of the abundance of employment in the state. In fact, a large number of people keep flowing into Gujarat from states which have lesser industrialisation. We give preference to the local youth as far as possible. But sometimes large industries don’t get enough manpower and hence there are a lot of opportunities for people from other states also. If people find that their pay level is not enough, they just leave and go to another industry. If they leave today, tomorrow they will get a job somewhere else. It has become like any other developed country. The opportunities are huge. As a result of this, worker unions are not very active. People do not go to unions because they can get jobs easily. Basically, this is an employee’s market rather than being an employer’s market.
What is your message for the youth? By the time they are in their final year in school, the youth should make up their mind whether they want to get into formal education or they want to get into vocational education. It is not necessary for everybody to get into graduation just for the sake of getting a degree. If you don’t have interest in B.A, B.Com or B.Sc., there is no point in wasting two to three years in college. After 10th class,
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you must make your mind where you to go.
up want
The state government is seriously thinking of introducing vocational schemes even in 11th and 12th standards. While the students are studying in these classes, there will be six or seven elective vocational streams which will help them understand the possibilities that exist in the vocational streams. If you want to be a film-maker or a fashion designer, you should be able to get into that stream after plus two; you don’t need to be a graduate. There are a large number of such fields where people don’t need formal education. They can get into vocational education and follow their dreams. There are a huge number of choices but the youth have to be very clear in their mind, as to what they want to pursue; they should not be fickleminded. When we were growing up, we had three or four choices like becoming a doctor,
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engineer, IAS officer or lawyer. Therefore people did not have to think so much before entering. Right now there are so many choices that the aspirants need more counselling and aptitude testing so that they can make up their minds where they want to go and once they make up their mind, they need to pursue that field, because every field requires the same rigour. If anybody feels that they don’t want to go to college because they don’t want to study and want to enjoy life instead, that will not happen; because if the person wants to go into a vocational field, that would also require hard work. I think you should chase your dreams but before doing that you must know what your dream is. In fact, my second book, The Dream Chasers, is based on the very same concept that the youth is unable to distinguish between his/her dream and any wild idea. A dream is something which is practical, full of passion and hard work. If you dream about getting into a particular field you should really know all the parameters involved, like opportunities, problems, etc. and you must be able to work hard to get that; hard work is the key here.
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SEPTEMBER 2019
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POLICYMAKER PERSPECTIVE
AI, ML and IoT are Deployed in Agriculture to Optimise Crop Yield
Vivek Aggarwal
Joint Secretary (Crops & IT) and CEO-PM Kisan
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India is predominantly an agrarian economy, with 70 percent of the population dependent on farming and other allied activities. However, there is no single, unique database of about 14 crore farmers in the country, says Vivek Aggarwal, Joint Secretary (Crops & IT) and CEO-PM Kisan, in an exclusive interview with Sreetama Datta Roy and Sanghamitra Mohanty of Elets News Network (ENN). Aggarwal also assesses the challenge areas of the Agriculture sector of India and how technology is playing a key role in the department’s function and future plans.
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Please share an overview of the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare. The Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare (DAC&FW) is one of the two constituent Departments of the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, the other one being the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE). This Department is headed by Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Minister and is assisted by two Ministers of State. The Secretary (AC&FW) is the administrative head of the Department. The DAC&FW has 28 divisions and has five attached offices and 21 subordinate offices which are spread across the country for coordination with state level agencies and implementation of Central Sector Schemes in their respective fields. Further, one Public Sector Undertaking, nine autonomous bodies, 10 national-level cooperative organisations and two authorities are functioning under administrative control of Department.
What are some of the recent schemes undertaken by the department in order to promote farmer welfare? On February 24, 2019, Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM KISAN) was launched to provide Rs 6000 in three equal installments of Rs 2000 every four months to Small and Marginal Farmers (SMFs) with combined holding of up to two hectares of land, with an objective to augment the income of small and marginal farmers. The ambit of the scheme has now been expanded to cover all farmers in the country irrespective of the size of their land holdings, subject to all other exclusions. This Department has also soft
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“The Department under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, through various agencies, has carried out many pilot studies for optimisation of Crop Cutting Experiments, in which Artificial Intelligence is used for optimisation and yield estimation.” launched Pradhan Mantri Maan Dhan Yojana, a voluntary and contributory pension scheme, with entry age of 18 to 40 years, for providing a minimum fix pension of Rs 3,000 to the eligible small and marginal farmers, subject to certain exclusion clauses, on attaining the age of 60 years.
Technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning,
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Cloud Computing, Blockchain, etc. have become an intrinsic part of the governance, especially with Digital India scheme of the Government of India. What are the technologies being deployed in the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare? The Committee on Doubling Farmers’ Income (DFI) in its report appreciated the role of Digital Technology, which can play a transformational role in modernising and organising how rural India performs its agricultural activities. The possible components for modern management of agriculture are: i) Remote Sensing; ii) Geographical Information System; iii) Data Analytics; iv) Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Machine Learning (ML) and v) Internet of Things (IoT). To start with, for incorporating recommendations made by the DFI Committee about use of AI & ML, Big Data Analysis, IoT etc. in agriculture, the Department is contemplating to amend National e-Governance Plan in Agriculture for release of funds to the states only for the projects involving
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SEPTEMBER 2019
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POLICYMAKER PERSPECTIVE
use of technologies mentioned above. Further, this Department has been pro-active in using the space technology in agricultural sector. The Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare established a Centre, called Mahalanobis National Crop Forecast Centre, in 2012, for operationalisation of the space technology developed in the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), for crop production forecasting. The Department has another centre called Soil and Land Use Survey of India which uses satellite data for soil resources mapping. Currently, the Department is using space technology for its various programmes and areas such as Forecasting Agricultural Output using Space, Agrometeorology and Land-based Observations (FASAL) project, Coordinated programme on Horticulture Assessment and Management using geo informatics (CHAMAN) project, National Agricultural Drought Assessment and Monitoring System (NADAMS), Rice-Fallow Area Mapping and intensification, geo tagging of infrastructure and assets created under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, and Crop Insurance. This Department under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, through various agencies, has carried out many pilot studies for optimisation of Crop Cutting Experiments, in which AI is used for optimisation and yield estimation.
How are the technologies being utilised to ensure factors like optimum crop cultivation, weather management, irrigation etc.? The major technology interventions in the Department include: (i) Development of Kisan Suvidha
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mobile application to facilitate dissemination of information to farmers on the critical agricultural matters including weather forecasts and alerts. (ii) Development of Pusa Krishi Mobile App for dissemination of information about the latest technologies developed by the Indian Agricultural. Details of 185 technologies are available on Pusa Krishi Mobile App. (iii) Development of mKisan Portal (www.mkisan.gov.in) for sending advisories on various crop related matter to the registered farmers through SMS. (iv) Use of space technology for various programmes/ areas such as Forecasting Agricultural Output using Space, Agro-meteorology and Land-based Observations project, Coordinated programme on Horticulture Assessment and Management using geoinformatics project, National Agricultural Drought Assessment and Monitoring System, RiceFallow Area Mapping and
intensification, geo tagging of infrastructure and assets created under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana and Crop Insurance. (v) Implementation of Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure, subscheme of Integrated Scheme of Agricultural Marketing, in order to improve/create scientific storage capacity for storing farm produce, processed farm produce and to reduce post-harvest storage loss. (vi) Introduction of Soil Health Card Scheme to assist State Governments in providing Soil Health Cards to provide information to the farmers on nutrient status of their soil along with recommendations on appropriate dosage of nutrients to be applied for improving crop productivity and soil fertility. (vii) Implementation of Per Drop More Crop component of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana, which mainly focuses on water use efficiently at farm level through precision and micro irrigation technologies viz., Drip and
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Sprinkler irrigation. Micro irrigation technology not only helps in water saving but also in reducing fertilizer usage, labour expenses, and other inputs costs besides sustaining soil health. (viii) Using machine learning process along with different computer algorithms for crop classification and area estimation.
What is your take on the PublicPrivate Partnerships in the Department? Please mention the private organisations with whom the Department has collaborated. In the context of Indian agriculture, the Public-Private Partnership can be fruitful in areas such as seed production, farm implements and machinery, value-addition and post-harvest processing in cereals, pulses, oilseeds, fruits and vegetables, product testing and evaluation. The private sector seems to have an edge in factoring clients into design of technologies and diffusion processes. The Department has engaged some private companies in preparation of Proof of Concept and the Pilot projects. Some private companies have also been engaged for managing web portals of the Department.
What are some of the areas of challenge and how do you plan to mitigate those ? The Department is working on development of Centralised Farmer Database with land records as the basic data. India is predominantly an agrarian economy, with 70 percent of the population dependent on farming and other allied activities. However, there is no single, unique database of about 14 crore farmers in the country. Around 60 percent to 70 percent of the data is being repeatedly recollected under various schemes of the Government. However, the same
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“We are preparing Proof of Concepts by creating a unique data by matching LG code of a district, land record of a selected district and data of a data under a scheme run by the Department. Once POC is prepared, further course of action will be taken in the matter.� data collected from any two sources do not match most of the times. The challenges in developing this Database include: i) Lack of uniformity in digitisation of land records in the states ii) Lack of common revenue codes iii) Different format of meta data,
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which is different for states’ specific databases as different information is captured as per the revenue system of State iv) Non-implementation of local Government Directory Codes for all villages and other units in the hierarchy. Location hierarchy is different in different states; etc. We are preparing Proof of Concepts (POC) by creating a unique data by matching LG code of a district, land record of a selected district and data of a data under a scheme run by the Department. Once POC is prepared, further course of action will be taken in the matter.
What are some of the initiatives you have in the pipeline for the upcoming years? The Department is working on the creation of Centralised Farmers Database based on revenue land record; developing a Farm Based Weather and Crop Advisory Service for sending tailor made agro and weather advisories to the farmer; and development of Agristack as a public digital platform on the platform of farmer database for ready and almost access to famers and private players.
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SEPTEMBER 2019
35
SPOTLIGHT: AFGHANISTAN
How Exhibitions are Broadening Afghanistan’s Business Horizon Afghanistan is extending global and regional partnerships for peace, investment, trade, and transit. The national interest focuses on a mutual benefit that caters on a regional and global platform through collaborations, writes Neelapu Shanti for Elets News Network (ENN). 36
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fghanistan has been witnessing a range of changes in global trade paradigms, unveiling new emerging markets and channels for global business expansion. International exports have seen significant growth. Made In Afghanistan, Passage to Prosperity, India International Trade Fair, India International Mega Trade Fair are the exhibitions that Afghanistan partner to establish significant dimensions in trade and investment opportunities for economic growth, social inclusion, and sustainability. Afghanistan is extending global and regional partnerships for peace, investment, trade, and transit. The national interest focuses on a mutual
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SPOTLIGHT: AFGHANISTAN
benefit that caters on a regional and global platform through collaborations. Afghanistan’s active engagement in exhibitions in India is an integrated commercial policy: a focused approach to negotiating trade policies with countries crafting the right give and synching this in the economic domain. Afghanistan grows stronger when export grows; invariably exhibitions set a benchmark in the global competitiveness sphere. Opportunities through exhibitions build and strengthen trade network across the region and promote the worthy cause of economic cooperation. Afghanistan’s trade and investment exhibitions are rapidly creating positive avenues to seize prospective markets in India and across the region.
Afghanistan’s active engagement in exhibitions in India is an integrated commercial policy: a focused approach to negotiating trade policies with countries crafting the right give and synching this in the economic domain.
International exports have seen significant growth. Made In Afghanistan, Passage to Prosperity, India International Trade Fair, India International Mega Trade Fair are the exhibitions that Afghanistan partner to establish significant dimensions in trade and investment opportunities for economic growth, social inclusion, and sustainability.
Passage to Prosperity Afghanistan creates opportunities for exporters to connect with buyers, explore business relationships and establishing a competitive edge in growing agricultural markets across the region, ‘Passage to Prosperity’ funded and organised by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) started in 2017. There were tremendous opportunities and potentials created through this exhibition with USD 27 million trade and investment contracts signed between Afghanistan and India in 2017. The second edition of ‘Passage to Prosperity’ exhibition was held in 2018 in which 2,000 companies
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participated, including 200 Afghan traders, 1,200 Indian traders and more than 100 international buyers. During this exhibition, 10 contracts were signed in agriculture, health, mining and energy, 166 trade deals, and 600 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).The total worth of MoUs and contracts were estimated around USD 360 million.
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Made in Afghanistan ‘Nature’s best’ supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in collaboration with India is an initiative to propel economic prosperity in Afghanistan. Made in Afghanistan’ Exhibition’s vision to unlock agricultural potential for economic empowerment. In 2018 Afghanistan revenue accounted to 67 million USD including 40 million USD contracts and 27 million USD MoU’s worth with Indian and international buyers. This positive trend continues to 2019 where the total worth of sales and MoU’s leads to 110 million USD.
India International Trade Fair (IITF) Afghanistan has been seeking unique opportunity in the India International Trade fair supported by India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO), Government of India. IITF is essentially an important pathway for Afghanistan to showcase the products and explore business relationships. Afghanistan has been participating in IITF since 2005 that has created a niche for buyers and sellers which are appropriate to enhance business relations with different countries. Afghanistan has taken the lead to win the Silver medal for ‘Excellence in Display’ at the 37th IITF in 2017.
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SEPTEMBER 2019
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SPOTLIGHT: AFGHANISTAN
This 14-day long exhibition is an initiative to reach global markets and prospective buyers and sellers. Afghanistan aspires to hold a prominent position in the global market for agricultural products, handicrafts, spices, carpets, gemstones, and jewelry partnering with India. It is important to note that such exhibition creates new opportunities for Afghanistan in bringing countries closer to achieve shared objectives. Being an emerging economy in South Asia, Afghanistan and India’s agricultural sector is complementary to each other. In this exhibition, buyers and sellers from Afghanistan and India grab marvelous opportunity to enhance trade ties between them that mark a significant relationship of both the nations. IITF is a marvelous opportunity to introduce Afghan items to India and showcase Afghanistan’s potential and economic vibrancy and eagerness to grow. Over the years Afghanistan has generated a market in India. In 2018, fifty-six Afghan companies exhibited products including fresh and dried fruits, gem-stones, carpets, handicrafts,
jewellery at the IITF generating revenue of I million USD.
India International Mega Trade Fair Afghanistan exhibited in the India International Mega Trade Fair – Kolkata in 2018. The event exhibited an impeccable destination for the main entrepreneurs to discuss new patterns and most recent developments in the separate business and investigate and spread their business in the worldwide business sector. Afghanistan
introduced businesses through more than 200 unique products, services, and business opportunities in gemstones, jewellery, dry fruits and nuts, saffron and spices, leather goods, cashmere, silk apparels and marble
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Afghanistan’s active engagement in exhibitions in India is an integrated commercial policy: a focused approach to negotiating trade policies with countries crafting the right give and synching this in the economic domain. products for significant buyers, sellers and investors of the Indian market. Afghanistan offers a pro-business minded environment with legislation favorable to private investments. The principles of a free market economy are incorporated in the new Constitution just as the growth of the private sector is a cornerstone of the National Development Strategy.
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communications, and so a utility must be aware and plan for this level of IT investment. Despite the challenges, based on the experience of other industries, Indian utilities should avoid being too tentative and set ambitious network development goals. In doing so they can plan confidently for transformative enhancements in productivity, reliability, safety, customer experience, compliance and revenue management. Estimates supported by analysis of real-life cases, suggest that digital optimisation can boost profitability by over 20 percent. Utilities can realise most of this potential via more accurate smart meters and sensors, improved communications, leakage reduction, data aggregation, digital productivity tools for employees, and automation of back-office processes. To help utilities on their journey, Sensus, a Xylem company, is working closely with other Xylem companies, such as Visenti, to develop systems that can collate and analyse data from multiple sources and data systems in order to produce comprehensive reports and actionable event notifications to their customers. Water is an increasingly valuable resource and we collectively are custodians of it for future generations. As responsible organisations we must ensure that we extract the clear benefits that becoming ’Digital’ delivers. For more information please visit: www.sensus.com
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SEPTEMBER 2019
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SPOTLIGHT: AMRITSAR AIRPORT
Amritsar Airport Striding Towards Growth and Development
Consistency in operations is perhaps the single most important challenge being faced by the airport. Airlines need to understand that the traffic growth will happen gradually and only when airlines continue to serve the sector for some time, says Manoj Chansoria, Airport Director, Amritsar, Airport Authority of India in an exclusive interview with Priya Yadav of Elets News Network (ENN). 40
SEPTEMBER 2019
Manoj Chansoria
Airport Director, Amritsar, Airport Authority
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SPOTLIGHT: AMRITSAR AIRPORT
Space constraint on the city side is also a challenge being faced by the airport; steps are being taken to create more vehicular lanes for decongesting the area
What is the air connectivity at Amritsar Airport currently? At present Amritsar airport handles 44 to 46 movements daily with an average foot fall of 6600 passengers. The airport connects to six domestic and six international destinations. In domestic sector the maximum number flights are operated to and from Delhi, whereas in international we connect to Dubai thrice daily. New connections in the offering are direct flight to Sharjah, while in domestic sector we expect flights to Patna soon.
How has the airport at Amritsar grown in the past decade with regard to passengers and cargo?
What are the challenges being faced by the airport in its strides towards growth?
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when airlines continue to serve the sector for some time. In the recent past, Airlines have stopped operations to new destinations like Goa, Kolkata, and Hyderabad. Some of these destinations are having high demand, but the abrupt withdrawal has left the passengers high and dry.
The graphical representation of the growth of Amritsar Airport over the years is as below.
Consistency in operations is perhaps the single most important challenge being faced by the airport. Airlines need to understand that the traffic growth will happen gradually and only
What are the future plans for the airport in terms of expansion?
On the cargo front, Amritsar Airport has a fully functional International Cargo complex, and we are also constructing a Domestic Cargo terminal separately. We have been engaging with various operators for starting dedicated cargo flights, but with little success so far.
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The first floor area in the terminal building has been recently developed and put to use, given the changing profile of the travelling public, facilities for retail shopping and also F&B are being created. The present capacity of the terminal building is 4MPPA in the year 2018-19 the airport saw 2.6 Million passengers and given the present growth trend the airport will be reaching its capacity by 2024, as such work on the expansion of terminal building has started, it is proposed to expand the existing building to create a additional capacity of 2MPPA. Commensurate to the building capacity, the aircraft parking capacity is also being increased to 24 from the present 14; this work is already in progress and expected to be completed by April 2020.
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