Sabarmati Riverfront Preparations for Visit of Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping

Ahmedabad Sabarmati Riverfront Preparations for Visit of Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping

China President Xi Jinpings India visit strengthen ties Narendra Modi

There is a deliberative attempt at innovation in every decision prime minister Narendra Modi takes and after this it may become a norm. Chinese president Xi Jinping, who starts his three-day India visit on September 17 from Ahmedabad, is the first foreign dignitary to start off from outside Delhi. It is the norm that state visits start off in the national capital. However, from now on, foreign heads of state and government would be encouraged to start by exploring other parts of the country apart from the Capital.

The PM will be in Ahmedabad to receive the Chinese head of state. Another first would be that there will be official talks during Xi's day-long stay in the Guajarat capital, Modi's home state. The ministry of external affairs spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said there would be signing of agreements, which is again a first. He was not in a position to disclose anything about the nature of agreements to be signed, but he assured that those signed in Ahmedabad will pertain to that region. There will be other agreements that Modi and Xi will sign in Delhi after officials talks, at the meeting between the two leaders along with aides and later at delegation level.

There has been much preparation on the part of India for the visit, especially through national security adviser Ajit Doval's visit to Beijing last week, where he called on Xi and met ministers and officials to discuss the visit. Akbaruddin said Doval conveyed to the Chinese government that India sees "the visit as an important landmark". It is only the third Chinese presidential visit. The earlier ones were that of Jian Zemin in 1996 and Hu Jintao in 2006. The MEA spokesperson said that the "new government was engaged in intensive global engagement" and Xi's visit is being seen as part of this new drive.

There have been brisk exchange of visits between the two countries ever since Modi took over as prime minister in May. Chinese prime minister Li Keqiang was the first foreign leader to have telephoned Modi and congratulated him after the swearing-in. Modi had met Xi on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Brazil in July, and it was followed by vice president Hamid Ansari's visit to China. Minister for external affairs Sushma Swaraj had met her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi twice, first in June in Nw Delhi and again on the sidelines of the Asean Regional Forum in Myanmar's capital Naypyidaw in August.

The MEA spokesman and joint secretary (east) in the ministry Pradeep Rawat did not reveal any breakthrough agreements on the economic front nor on the crucial issue of border talks. To repeated queries about Chinese incursions in the north-east, Akbaruddin said that incursions will be handled on the ground by the "brave sentinels" and made it out that it will not in any way impact on the Modi-Xi talks because these are a different thing altogether.

Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation seek public opinion on water meter

After putting on hold the water policy 16 days ago, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation's (AMC) standing committee realized that prior to implementing such an important policy, it should seek public opinion - as any democratic process would demand. This would mean that the policy, with its suggestions on proposed water meter installation charges, water supply rates, should have ideally been posted on public forum or a website to invite suggestions and objections.

For this the AMC has now decided to engage a special advocate panel to scrutinize every clause of the policy before it goes before the public. "The process would take some time before the standing committee brings the water policy aboard," said a senior AMC official.

"If town planning schemes are put in public domain for inviting suggestions and objections, why should not a policy such as water metering be put in public forum? A municipal corporation is a democratic body and the committee members realized that it would be vital that public opinion be sought. For now the advocates are sprucing up the policy so that there are lesser objections," explained the official.

Another interesting aspect to the policy is that that the BJP-led AMC after eyeing the civic body elections next year will avoid any controversy over the proposed policy. Two weeks ago, AMC had placed a concept paper on the new water metering and tariff policy for more than 13 lakh properties in the city before the standing committee.

In the case of residential societies, according to the policy, it will now be compulsory for every house in a society to install a meter to check wastage and usage of water. Under this policy a payment limit was set for fixed usage of up to 20,000 litres a month and a fixed rate that ranged between Rs 240 to Rs 2,880 depending on the carpet area of the property. Any extra usage will be charged at rates per 1,000 litres of supply. This rate ranges from Rs 1 for properties with a carpet area of up to 15 square metres, and at Rs 12 for properties with a carpet area of more than 1,000 square metres.

The AMC had earlier announced the installation of water meters in areas of Jodhpur, Navrangpura, Stadium and Juna Vadaj on a pilot basis to study water usage, and then planned to extend metering to the entire city. The proposal says that the AMC incurs a cost of Rs 6.05 per 1,000 litres for treating and supplying water to citizens and charges 68 paise per 1,000 litres, according to the present taxation structure. -TOI

discover india app launched by tourism ministry india

The Ministry of Tourism has launched a mobile application to enable its users to independently travel and experience 16 cities in the country. The self-guided tour application ‘Incredible India Walking Tours’ was launched by the Ministry in collaboration with Genesys International Corporation and will cover 16 Indian cities including Agra, Amritsar, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Coastal Goa, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai, Patna, Pune and Surat. The facility will be extended to 36 cities by December 2015. The app enables users to sight-see free of cost at their own pace and convenience, with the help of walking tours curated by travel experts. “We are extremely excited about this because it is the first time an app can enable users to discover India on their own. It’s free, easy to use and, most importantly, comes with 360 degree street views and information put together by a panel of experts. It’s like having a local take you by the hand and show you his city, at your convenience,” Tourism Minister Sripad Naik said. The application, however, is only available on Blackberry mobile handsets. It runs on all BlackBerry 10 handsets including the Z3, Z10, Z30, Q5 and Q10 phones. An Android version of the free application is also being worked upon and is expected to be announced in coming weeks, said a senior Tourism Ministry official.

Heart-pounding new rides coming up at Kankaria

AHMEDABAD: The Kankaria Amusement Park, work on which is close to completion, will provide Amdavadis five world class rides. The park coming up at the new Balvatika in Kankaria is scheduled to open to the public within a month.

The Boomerang Roller Coaster takes riders to a height of 55 ft. It can carry 20 people at a time and travels at a speed of 16.67 metres per second.

The Flipping Arm is another exciting ride that is being set up. It is designed like a forestry tractor with three arms that rotate clockwise and anti-clockwise at a minimum speed of 1 metre per second and a maximum speed of 15 metres per second. The most exciting part of this ride is that as the arms oscillate, the body also moves in multiple directions.

"The Flipping Arm is going to be the most unique and amusing ride here for both children and adults," said Suhas Makwana, supervisor of Kankaria Amusement Park.

The three-meter-tall, 'Torching Tower', which has 10 seats, will have the riders' hearts racing in no time. The seats will initially rise at a speed of 3 metre per second. Once they reach the top, they will come down at a speed of 10 metres per second.

Disk 'O', also known as 'the pendulum ride', can carry 15 people at a time. Its arm oscillates along a 180-degree arc at a speed that varies with the weight of the passengers. The oscillating arm's speed can go up to 10 metres per second.

A merry-go-round with a carrying capacity of 58 persons will also be part of the amusement park. The promoters are in the process of building a kids' zone where there will be many computerized games for children.

"All the rides at Kankaria are being set up by a Netherlands-based amusement rides manufacturing company. This is the first time that the company has set up such rides in South Asia," said Makwana.

-TOI

Three cheers for Ahmedabad city is racing ahead

With its robust infrastructure and strong fundamentals, Gujarat is growing at a higher pace than other Indian states. Its urban centers are now putting up infrastructure at par with the most developed regions of the world- be it the Bus Rapid Transport System (BRTS) that won the international award or the flyovers or the reduction in pollution or the first ever tethered balloon launched here- Ahmedabad is emerging as a fast developing city. That is how it has found place in the Forbes list of World’s fastest growing city.
As the leader who led the state to this feat, the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi puts it:

“So far, Gujaratis have made their second home across the world, now we invite the world to Gujarat.”

With many more upcoming projects like METRO, River front development, solid waste management and the proposed Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor, Ahmedabad is poised to grow at a much faster pace than ever and become a cynosure of many eyes.

Your dear Ahmedabad is growing and at a rate that has now attracted global attention. The Forbes magazine has said in a report that Ahmedabad is one of the fastest-growing cities in the world and it has put Gujarat’s largest city in third rank after two Chinese cities - Chengdu and Chongqing.

Ahmedabad is India’s seventh largest city, and Forbes has placed it ahead of Chennai and Bangalore in terms of growth.The magazine has said Ahmedabad is a city ‘whose per capita income is twice that of the rest of India’.

The magazine describes Ahmedabad as “the largest metropolitan region in Gujarat, perhaps the most marketoriented and business-friendly of Indian states.” The report also states that “Gujarat’s policies helped lure away the new Tata Nano plant from West Bengal to Sanand, one of Gurajat’s exurbs.’’ It cites one Indian academic, Sedha Menon, as comparing the state - which has developed infrastructure more quickly than its domestic rivals - with Singapore and parts of Malaysia.

While surveying the ‘Next Decades’ Fastest Growing Cities’ in the world, the magazine has not focused upon established global centres like New York, London, Paris, Hong Kong or Tokyo which have dominated urban rankings. They have also not looked at cities that have achieved prominence in the past 20 years and the massive, largely dysfunctional megacities.

Ahmedabad leads the list of Indian cities ahead of Bangalore which is home to Infosys and Wipro and Chennai which has created 100,000 jobs this year, says the magazine. Ahmedabad municipal commissioner IP Gautam, when reached for comments on the Forbes report, said that Ahmedabad has been growing at a fast pace with ambitious infrastructure projects like the BRTS, Sabarmati Riverfront Development and Kankaria Lakefront. “It is also because of positive development by the state government and local governments like AMC and AUDA that Ahmedabad is seeing development at such a fast pace.

Also, the government’s proactive policies have spruced up development in the city,” said Gautam.He said Vibrant Gujarat summits have brought in a lot of projects in and around Ahmedabad and development has been put in top gear.However, an expert, on condition of anonymity, said that the report may not be correct factually. “The per capita income of the country is around $1,100 while that of Gujarat is $1,300. It is difficult to understand on what basis they have taken Ahmedabad on the list of fastest-growing cities ,” he said.

Source: narendramodi.in, DNA
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