State appoints 78 managers for development of smart cities
SIGNIFICANT MOVE Ranchi figures on the top 100 cities selected for the centre’s smart city project
RANCHI: The Jharkhand government on Monday recruited 78 city managers to facilitate smart city and other urban development projects across the state, officials of the urban development department said.
State urban development minister CP Singh formally awarded appointment letters to the city managers, who will initially be on a three-year contract, on Monday.
Officials said the move was significant for Ranchi too as it figured on the top 98 cities selected for the centre’s smart city project and among the seven Jharkhand cities picked for the Atal Mission For Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) besides 15 selected under ‘Housing for All’ scheme.
The managers, who will re por t to t heir respective municipal body commissioners, would undergo a 22-day training programme from October 9 in different sections of urban development like solid waste management, water supply, revenue col- lection, civil construction works and district treasury.
Municipal administration director Shashi Ranjan Prasad Singh said that the recruitment of the city managers was necessary as the department was short of manpower which had made implementation of the development projects a challenge.
Urban development depart- ment under secretary Rahul Kumar said “The city managers would also suggest strategy to increase revenue collection under urban local bodies. They are masters in business administration. Therefore, they could plan better in this sector, which is need of hour.”
Meanwhile, Ranchi mayor Asha Lakra and RMC chief exec- utive officer Prashant Kumar left for New Delhi to participate in the Idea Camp on Smart City project being organized by the union urban development ministry. Lakra said that the procedures under the smart city competition would be informed during the programme. The RMC would also submit its concept plan for smart city, he said.