Amrut takes off as Centre releases Rs 2 crore for GIS survey

Chennai: With the Directorate of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) rolling up its sleeves to implement Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (Amrut), the Union government has released the much-awaited funds to carry out initial Geographic Information System (GIS) based survey in selected Amrut cities.

According to the sources in the housing department, the Directorate of Town and Country Planning (DTCP), which has been appointed as the nodal agency to carry out the mission in Tamil Nadu had received an amount to the tune of '2 crore for the survey. “We have been selecting suitable consultants to conduct the survey before implementing the developments. Meanwhile, the funds from Central government would help to commence the survey,” the sources added.

The Union government had selected 32 towns to be refurbished under the  Amrut mission. The state government has directed DTCP to carry out the project at 17 of 32 towns during the first phase.

It is learnt that the DTCP recently invited private consultancies to draft GIS-based master plans for Nagapattinam (with Velankanni), Kancheepuram, Cuddalore, Dindigul, Karaikudi, Rajapalayam, Vellore, Tiruvannamalai, Ambur, Salem, Thanjavur, Pudukottai, Kumbakonam, Tirunelveli, Nagarcoil, Rameswaram and Thoothukudi.

“Central government has entailed providing '75 lakh for each city to draft master plans. Apart from releasing '2 crore, the Central government has to release additional '18 crore to draft master plans for all the towns,” said DTCP sour-
ces.

Although many consultants expressed interest to take over the job, only one consultant had been selected for one package consisting of Thoothukudi, Nagarcoil, Rameswaram and Tirunelveli earlier. 

“After another round of bidding, we have provided orders to Nagapattinam (with Velankanni), Kancheepuram, Cuddalore package. Steps have been taken to find suitable consultants for other 3 packages,” the sources added.