:An aerial view of the city, adjudged by the Union government one of the frontrunners in the country in the smart cities mission.— Photo: K.R. Having been selected in the first round of Smart City Challenge, Visakhapatnam is a lighthouse city with several achievements, Municipal Commissioner M. Hari Narayanan has said. A total of 5.6 lakh people participated in the opinion-gathering on smart city proposals and since it came after the devastating Cyclone Hudhud, disaster management, sewerage and drainage got top priority, the Commissioner said. e-Governance and integrated command and control centre monitoring pollution levels and cyclone alerts were the pan city initiatives and the area-based development in nearly 1700 acres under smart city project included the Beach Road, the most preferred place by the people, and tackling beach erosion. Phase one of the USTDA-sponsored Master Plan encompassing the entire VUDA area was completed and the second phase was in progress, Mr. Hari Narayanan told the gathering.

Source: The Hindu September 16, 2016 00:41 UTC