UP investors’ meet: City to get a facelift

LUCKNOW: The state capital is set to get smarter within a month, thanks to the UP Investors’ Summit, for which development agencies will carry out beautification works worth Rs 50 crore.

Officials with the district administration said the drive was aimed at presenting a good picture of the city before the investors participating in the summit scheduled on February 21-22.

“It’s a massive event. So, all development agencies / government departments — Public Works Department (PWD), Nagar Nigam, Electricity, Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) and others — are working together to beautify the city,” said district magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma, who is overseeing the beautification and development work.

Officials said the development agencies had divided the city into two parts for this purpose.

One is the core area — the summit venue, Indira Gandhi Pratishthan, and the areas around it. Probably, the first roads to be developed / beautified will be the ones connected to the venue.

The other part comprises all the main areas and prominent congregation points of the city. “In the core area, the focus of development agencies will be more on widening roads, removing encroachment, pruning trees, illuminating streets and

so on,” said Sharma.

He added that in other areas, development works such as painting of dividers, beautification of roundabouts and replacement of existing lights with bright LEDs would be carried out.

“Special attention is being paid to the Shaheed path. The agencies are beautifying it, rectifying errors, and establishing landscapes and slopes along the road,” said Sharma.

He said that January 31 was the deadline for completing the development drive, which was expected to change the face of the city. “Departments have also floated tenders to carry out the work at the earliest. As part of the same drive, the city’s traffic will also be streamlined,” he said.