Centre approves smart city SPVs for Davangere and Belagavi.

The Union Ministry of Urban Development has approved Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) for Davangere and Belagavi cities for implementation of the smart city project.

The SPVs, created by the Department of Urban Development with an action plan of Rs. 1,500 crore each, will ensure operational independence and autonomy in decision making and mission implementation of Smart Cities, Minister for Urban Development Vinay Kumar Sorake said.

The revised vision document and detailed project reports for the remaining four cities — Tumakuru, Mangaluru, Hubballi-Dharwad, and Shivamogga — have been sent to the Ministry of Urban Development, he said.

Special rules

The department will frame special rules to recruit 4,000 pourakarmikas and they will be absorbed as permanent workers by March 2017. “The decision to frame special rules has been taken following a suggestion from the Advocate-General. The recruitment will be taken up in stages,” Mr. Sorake explained.

To address staff shortage in urban local bodies, the power of recruiting over 1,700 D Group employees has been delegated to Deputy Commissioners and the Karnataka Public Service Commission has been asked to select 3,000 candidates to fill the posts in A, B, and C category.

The Hindu