Analysis of the 'Climate Smart City' projects in Ujjain

By Shishir Agrawal 25 Mar 2024

New Update

According to an estimate, half of the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emitted in India is emitted by the urban areas alone. Obviously, amidst increasing urbanisation, the responsibility of taking care of the environment also increases in the cities of India.

The Smart City Mission, launched in 2015, included the promise of making cities smart and sustainable. Keeping this in mind, the Climate Smart City Assessment Framework (CSCAF) was launched in 2019, four years after the mission's launch. In the assessment, 100 smart cities were measured based on five sectors.

Energy and Green Building
Urban planning, biodiversity and green cover
Mobility and clean air
water resources management
waste management

The first report of the above assessment was published in 2020. In the second phase of assessment (CSCAF 2.0), a city readiness report was prepared in the year 2021. Its main objective was to make cities think about how development can be done while keeping the environment in mind.

Being a smart city, Ujjain was also a part of it. The city was in the news for the construction and deterioration of the Mahakal Corridor. However, there were 61 area-based development projects under Ujjain Smart City, for the cost of Rs 1,57 crore. The cost of 35 Pan City projects was Rs 599 crore. Hence, 96 projects were started here with a total cost of Rs 1,56 crore. According to the report of the parliamentary committee, 73 of these projects have been completed.

In such a situation, it will be interesting to see how much the city learned from the assessment. Has the city become a climate-smart?

Ujjain’s Assessment

Ujjain was given a 3-star rating i.e. city with the existence of an administrative structure to deal with the problems related to the above-mentioned five parameters. Many committees are involved in this structure. However, there is not much clarity in the report regarding the nature and work of these committees. A total of 22 cities out of 126 were kept in 3-star rating.

Energy and Green Building

Ujjain got 375 out of 600 in the Climate Smart City Assessment in the area of energy and green buildings. Based on this score, this city got a 4-star ranking. But the truth is that the share of renewable energy in the total energy used in the city is only 0.07. In the name of beautification, only 40 per cent of LED street lights have been installed in this city.

To increase renewable energy, a total of 400 kilo-watt (KW) solar power projects were to be installed by Ujjain Smart City Limited. According to the information available on the website, the largest is with 210 KW at the Government Excellent Nutan Vidyalayas, and the second 100 KW project has been installed in the Smart City office (USCL) itself. Apart from this, according to the information given in the Parliament, five wind energy projects of a total of 107.4 MW have also been announced by the Central Government in Ujjain district.

This city has been most discussed for the Mahakal Corridor. But, a social worker here says with the promise of anonymity,

“The power of the corridor is coming from traditional sources only.”

Like India, it is very important for this city also to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels. According to 2019 data, Ujjain emits 1.37 metric tons of CO2e greenhouse gas every year. 71 per cent of this is emitted from fossil fuel energy sources alone.

Less than 10 per cent of the buildings in the city are worthy of being called energy-efficient or green buildings. However, four such projects were started by Smart City Limited five years ago which were based on the green building concept. This also included the construction of the Nanakheda Commercial Complex which is still incomplete.

Urban planning, biodiversity and green cover

Here, the city got only 126 marks out of 500. According to the survey, only 6.87 per cent of the total municipal area has green cover, and therefore, the cutting of trees doesn’t make it better.

On January 2, 2024, Ananya Singh Pawar, an environmentalist, filed a petition in the National Green Tribunal against the encroachment being done in two public parks in the city. A joint committee was ordered to investigate the matter. This committee denied encroachment in its report but accepted that a total of 32 trees have to be cut in these two parks.

However, another reservoir here, Govind Sagar, has been encroachment upon. The petition, filed by NGT activist Baqir Ali Rangwala, mentions construction work in this reservoir, and the release of sewage water.

Baqir Ali Rangwala while talking to us says,

“Govind Sagar is important both religiously and in terms of biodiversity. But the administration never paid attention to this.”

Being a religious city, parking is a major problem here. To deal with this problem, Smart City Limited has provided parking facilities at four places. Including all these parking lots, a facility has been provided to park about 408 vehicles. Besides, an app has been developed for booking parking slots for the convenience of visitors.

Mobility and clean air

In India, 13 per cent of carbon dioxide is emitted by traffic. Did Ujjain reduce this environmental burden? There are 0.08 buses for every 1000 people in Ujjain. This means that thousands of people do not even get a single bus. There are only 113 e-rickshaws in the city. This is the reason why they have received a 2-star rating in terms of mobility and clean air.

Under the Pan City project of Smart City, 'smart solutions' were to be provided to increase public mobility. While issuing the tender, Smart City Limited talked about providing many 'solutions' like Vehicle Tracking and Management System, and GPS. This also included developing a mobile app (which is introduced in almost every ‘smart’ project). The city had received 39 buses under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Scheme (JNNURM) but later these were also discontinued.

Building a transport city in the city was also promised for a long time. But it is still a promise. Apart from this, efforts like public bicycles were also made. A tender was issued for this in 2017, but there is no update about this either.

There is a direct relationship between the air and traffic in the city. In the year 2017, 1246 vehicles in the city were checked by the Pollution Control Board. Of these, only 6 vehicles meet the pollution control standards. In such a situation, improving the public transport of the city will have a direct impact on the air quality.

Water resources management

The situation of management of water resources in the city can be understood from the case of Govind Sagar. According to the CSCAF survey, till 2018, 52 per cent of the houses in the city had piped water connections. Whereas 54 MLD wastewater is treated and reused by the city's treatment plant.

The Shipra River originating from the city covers 60 per cent of the total blue space of the city. Many efforts were also made to free it from pollution. However, according to the recently published CAG report, pollution in Shipra River has increased. For the management of water resources, flood management of reservoirs was also to be done. However, the flood management of the Shipra River was done in such a way that its banks became victims of floods last year.

However, the revival of Rudra Sagar's pond in the city has been a significant achievement in this area.

Waste management

In terms of waste management, this city appears to be relatively better than other parameters. In the survey, Ujjain was given a 5-star rating. Ujjain city produces 227.32 metric tons of solid waste every day. The city market produces about 30 metric tons of vegetable waste. To process it, a bio-methanation project has been set up in the city. It processes five tonnes of biodegradable waste every day.

However, there is still no scientific landfill in the city, and a proposal was issued to make it. The survey said that the door-to-door waste collection system needs to be further improved. Also, the city currently does not have any way to monitor methane emissions from the sewage treatment plant.

With the rising number of religious gatherings and visitors in Ujjain, environmental development becomes crucial. Ujjain is a recognised city on the banks of the Shipra River and a focal point of religious faith for many tourists. However, a significant issue it faces is the lack of clarity. While the corridor decorations are admirable, the amount of electricity consumed is worrisome. Consequently, it's vital to increase the use of renewable energy. Despite the growth in construction activities, the city's environmental efforts are still lacking. Interestingly, Madhya Pradesh lags in areas like green construction. Besides, the city should prioritise enhancing its transportation system and preserving water resources.

Ujjain appears to be lagging on most of the parameters of Climate Smart City. Most of the Pan City projects of Smart City focus on making religious events events and promoting them. In such a situation, the chances of worrying about the environment are reduced. Most of the smart city projects have been completed on paper. But there is still time for this city to become climate-smart.

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Author: Shishir Agrawal