Smart City cameras helped cops solve 1.8k cases: Sonawane
Nagpur: Ramnath Sonawane, the outgoing Chief Executive Officer of Nagpur Smart and Sustainable City Development Corporation Limited (NSSCDCL), said Wednesday that the Smart City office here has helped the state police solve 1,800 cases of crime since its inception.
“The CCTV cameras installed under the Safe and Smart City project have also helped crack important cases, including 90 murders, eve-teasing, robbery thefts, etc,” said Sonawane, who will act as Secretary of the Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority on 14 February.
On Wednesday, Sonawane presented his resignation as CEO of NSSCDCL to its Chairman and Chief Secretary of State, Pravin Pardeshi.
Sonawane was transferred to Nagpur Municipal Corporation as an additional municipal commissioner in April 2016. In 2017, he received an additional charge from the CEO of NSSCDCL. “On June 30, 2017, the city was chosen as one of the 100 smart cities. Since then, the city has been the first or second to work in Smart City, “said the outgoing CEO.
He admitted, however, that the work of the Smart City is going on at a slow pace. He blamed this on two factors— frequent rainfall and legal issues related to land procurement for land-based development.
“The deadline for the smart city mission is June 2021, but the NSSCDCL will not be able to meet the target,” said Sonawane.
So far, the NSSCDCL has received Rs 439 crore (Rs 196 crore from the central government, Rs 143 crore from the state government and Rs 100 crore from the Nagpur Improvement Trust) to carry out 21 different projects, but only two works have been completed to date.
The NSSCDCL is to construct 52 km in Pardi-Punapur, of which 16 roads are under construction. In addition, four elevated storage reservoirs and nine of the 28 bridges are under construction.
Of this, the NSSCDCL has spent 100 per cent of the Center’s share and 20 per cent of the State’s share on works such as a safe and smart city project (Rs 103 crore), road works worth Rs 65 crore and Rs12 crore for housing schemes, he said.
Sonawane added that he had a good relationship with leaders of all political parties, including City MP Nitin Gadkari, former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, etc.
