Redefining Chandigarh

Keeping in view the need for the investment of investible surplus, we have taken a number of major initiatives to upgrade the infrastructure in Chandigarh, to boost economic growth in the region. Chandigarh is emerging as a regional hub in the areas of service industry, education, health, information technology, food and vegetable processing etc. Chandigarh’s plan priorities clearly focus on the targets and objectives contained in the National Common Minimum Programme.

Chandigarh’s economy is changing in character as the knowledge revolution sweeps the country. In the last decade, the traditional industrial activity has not seen that rapid an increase as was seen in the activities relating to the services sector.

Right from the day the foundation of the city was laid in 1952, the Administration has been successful in transforming this city into a world class city, which can be depicted by the following Fact File:

• Number 1 in the country in terms of Human Development Index
• Chandigarh has been rated as the “Wealthiest Town” of India. In terms of family wealth, it was rated as the sixth most prosperous city.
• Good Governance- A compact, efficient Administration having Quick Decision making system
• Bank Deposits- USD 4 billion with 227 branches
• Education: Seat of the prestigious Panjab University from where 145 Ph.D pass out in various disciplines, with Two prestigious Engineering Colleges with 400 Engineers passing out every year. PGI ME&R- Prestigious Medical Research Institute of the country is situated in this city. Apart from various Colleges in the Science, Commerce and Humanities fields, One Architecture College and one College of Fine Arts add to the high value education institutes in the city.
• Health: 5 Big Govt. Hospitals in the City; PGI, General Multi-Speciality Hospital, Sector 16, General Medical College & Hospital, Sector 32; One Hospital each in the field of Homeopathy & Ayurveda. Apart from these, there are various other Hospitals in the private sector.
• Research Institutes: IMTECH, CSIO, NIPER all add to the value added Research facilities provided by the city.
• Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is growing @ 16.06% in the year 2004-05 against all India Growth of 8.2%.

INITIATIVES OF CHANDIGARH ADMINISTRATION

Changing Employment Patterns

RGCTP has been conceived with an idea of creating employment and it is expected that once RGCTP is completed more than 25000 professionals would be working here. Already 4500 professionals are working in RGCTP at present. As a natural corollary to creation of a single job in the IT sector, 3 other indirect jobs per one job in IT sector are created and as such 15000 jobs were created indirectly.

Providing Essential Public Services to the Poor

Education

Under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan 10,400 children have been enrolled and the ambit of SSA is spreading its wings to cover all the out of school children/ drop-outs by the end of this financial year. To accomplish this task a house-hold survey has been inititated which will detect the out of school children. To encourage literacy amongst the illiterate adults, different schemes in collaboration with Govt. of India are being launched every year. Literacy centers are being opened in all the nook and corner of the city so that every adult can be educated and provided basic minimum educational qualification.

Health Care

• General Hospital Sector 16 has been upgraded to General Multi Speciality Hospital, so as to provide quality health care to the underprivileged.
• General Medical College & Hospital Sector 32 and General Multi Speciality Hospital Sector 16 would be looking after the primary and secondary health care needs.
• PGI ME&R would be upgraded to a world class Referral Hospital, where only complicated medical cases would be referred from the Region.
• A Complete study of the integration of the Health Care systems has been made by Director, PGI ME&R and the same has been sent to Government of India.
• This study has also identified the need for another Medical Education Centre, and a project for Rs 240 Cr has been prepared which will be implemented under the PPP model.
• A massive drive has been started to ensure that all children are given the benefit of our medical system and this drive will cover 1.5 lakh children.
• To tackle the problem of malnutrition, the whole mid-day meal scheme has been revamped, starting with Non recognized schools with 50000 students and gradually this scheme will be extended to the 104 Government schools as well.. The daily expenditure per child is Rs. 7 out of which the GOI subsidy component is Rs. 1.50. Some of our Institutes and Corporations have been given this responsibility of partially funding this endeavor.
• Tele-medicine project has been undertaken so as to integrate the IT services with the medical services.

Increasing Manufacturing Competitiveness

Roads

• As a Long term measure, Chandigarh Administration has initiated the conversion of all bitumen roads into RCC roads. We are also using plastic waste in road construction and propose to rehabilitate our rag pickers in a planned colony. The Engineering Department will purchase plastic waste from the rag pickers and use in the construction of roads.

Power

• Long term tie ups have been made with all the Power Corporations, so as to ensure uninterrupted power supply to the City.
• Talks are going on with GAIL for a dedicated gas pipeline to the city for setting up of 250 MW Power plant.
• In touch with foreign companies for harnessing the Solar energy, which will include setting up a plant for manufacture of Solar Photovoltaic Cells.
• Power T & D losses have been brought down from 24% to 19%, which will be further brought down to 16%.

Rajiv Gandhi Chandigarh Technology Park

• The Phase I of the RGCTP has been fully developed and it has been accorded the SEZ status. The same has been anchored by Infosys with a state of the art building ready for occupation. 15 other BTS sites have been allotted to prominent IT companies.
• A state of the art Entrepreneurs Development Centre is coming up on a 1.5 acre plot at a cost of Rs 16 Cr, which will have plug n play facilities for upcoming entrepreneurs.
• The Phase II of the RGCTP is under development and has also been accorded SEZ status by GOI. Wipro is the anchor company for Phase II, and Tech Mahindra, Bharti and eSys are the co-anchors.
• DLF Info city has built up a state of art building on 12.5 acres plot having a covered area of 6,00,000 sq. ft for the use of IT companies. Big names like IBM Daksh, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, eSys , Net Solutions, Virsa Systems, etc have already starting functioning from this Centre.
• Keeping in view the demand for more IT space Phase - III of RGCTP has been planned for which 270 Acres of land is to be acquired. The acquisition process has already begun.
• Till now Rs. 700 Cr has already been invested in RGCTP. Once completed, the RGCTP will bring in an investment of Rs. 5000 crores, apart from bringing in 25000 IT professionals.

Developing Human Resources

• A new state of the art Education City is coming up, which will have world class educational faculty and excellent infrastructure.
• PEC-Punjab Engineering College which is an autonomous deemed University will be soon upgraded to IIT status, enabling delivery of more value added education.
• Setting up a IIM level Management Institute and a branch of the National Institute of Design
• Partnership with Private Sector for providing IT education to young students. Infosys has already launched the programme ”Catch Them Young” whereby entrance test is conducted in all the schools of the city and the students selected are given free of cost inhouse training in Infosys. Intel Learn is providing IT education to teachers of the Govt schools, who will inturn provide IT education in the rural areas. The Administration is also in the process of upgrading select Government schools as Smart Schools, where IT programmes would be launched for the betterment of the school going children.
• C-TOSS, a programme for upgrading the soft skills, for urban and rural areas enhancing employability of students under PPP model.

Protecting the Environment

• Botanical Garden has been developed on 178 acres in village Sarangpur, which will consist of 15 botanical sections and other features to promote eco tourism.
• 3 Lakes, two along Patiala ki Rao and 1 along Sukhna Choe are being undertaken , as a part of environmental related initiatives.
• A Project for augmentation of the Water Supply has been prepared and sent to GOI under JNNURM for approval. This will go a long way in contributing towards Rain water Harvesting, Ground Water Charging and also reducing our dependence on pumping out Ground water.
• Tertiary Water treatment plan is also under implementation which will cater to the needs of supporting 2000 parks/gardens in the city.

Improving Rehabilitation and Resettlement Practices

• To ensure harmonization between the old and new, we have activated the Chandigarh Perspective which has representatives of all professional and social sectors and includes members of Le Corbusier’s initial team of eminent architects.
• Comprehensive Plans are in various stages of implementation in the field of Housing especially to cater to the needs of the incoming IT professionals.
• FAR has been standardized across the city.
• Self Certification of Building Plans by registered Architects.
• Promulgation of suitably modified building byelaws which have redressed long standing demand of majority of people. These byelaws also cover the conversion of Industrial Areas into Commercial Areas so that it can be upgraded to the same level as the new construction and this has had a very good response.
• Rehabilitation of slum dwellers is being undertaken in a massive way, which involves construction of 18000 flats for which a complete new model has been worked out. Past experience has been that the slum dwellers had to take loans from the unorganized sector, who got into benami transactions, resulting in the flats going into wrong hands. Under the new model, the slum dwellers would be allotted flats on rent basis which shall be non-transferable. This project will also include a home for rehabilitation of 1000 destitute children. We are also creating facilities for 1000 mentally retarded children and 1000 crippled children, both of which will have a percentage of vacancies for adults and destitute.
• Upgradation of Rehabilitation Colonies is proposed to be launched in a big way.

Improving Governance

Participation of Citizens in Decision Making

Chandigarh Administration has instituted a consultative process as broad based as possible involving people with varied expertise and experience in specialized subjects in public affairs so that aspirations of all sections of the society are reflected in governmental decisions. This initiative has successfully given a sense of participation to citizens in decision making processes making them seamless and transparent. Such initiatives include constitution of Administrator’s Advisory Council including its sub groups on various issues of public concern, Chandigarh Perspective and Environmental Committee on Preservation of Ecology of Sukhna Lake.

o The burning issue of tackling corruption, needs our concentration. There needs to be a wide spread campaign, at the National and State levels with important functionaries of the Government at all levels introducing citizens charters and the Right to Information, which should be widely publicized to increase awareness amongst the public so that the general public is not forced to succumb to corrupt officials. Concrete steps, like deterrent, punishment, as also incentives for honest officials, would also be effective. The issue needs to be taken up at the national level, so that there is a concerted effort among all levels of Government to rid the system of corrupt officials in particular and corruption as a whole. The Chandigarh Administration has incorporated all these measures to ensure a transparent, responsive and completely accountable Government.

Regaining Agricultural Dynamism

To support the crop diversification programme undertaken by both Punjab & Haryana, we are in the final stages of setting up of Terminal Market for Fruit & Vegetables for which preliminary discussions have been held with the GOI. The Administration is also putting together a Milk Village so that all UT Villages are cleaned up. A modern dairy system for Chandigarh villages is being introduced. Expressions of Interest are being invited for setting up a high value product Milk Processing Plant.

Disparities and Divides

Chandigarh’s plan priorities clearly focus on the target and objectives contained in the National Common Minimum Programme. We are aiming at three areas i.e. Human Development, Infrastructure, and Environment Upgradation and Protection. Despite facing many challenges, the Chandigarh Administration is constantly working towards improving the quality of life of the residents and preserving the unique character of the city of Chandigarh.

Development Infrastructure

• Upgradation of Chandigarh Airport to international standards is under implementation with the first step of transfer of 8.5 acres land to the AAI. Chandigarh Administration will be allotting equal area to Air Force and Army in lieu of this land. This will augment the physical connectivity of Chandigarh to the world and fulfill a long term need and considerably enhance export potential of this Region.
• As a Long term measure, Chandigarh Administration has initiated the conversion of all bitumen roads into RCC roads.
• Nehru Centre for Performing Arts is being set up in Sector 34, Chandigarh which will also have the facility of an international convention centre and theatres.
• Rejuvenation of the City Centre, Sector 17 is being undertaken by provision of multi level parking, relaying of the floors of main plaza, provisioning of tourist information centres etc.
• Completion of Sub City Centre in Sector 34 will further boost the commercial activity of the city.
• Botanical Garden is being developed on 178 acres in village Sarangpur, which will consist of 15 botanical sections and other features to promote eco tourism.
• 3 Lakes, two along Patiala ki Rao and 1 along Sukhna Choe are being undertaken , as a part of environmental related initiatives.
• Second State Library is being completed in Sector 34.