Civic chief inspects vertical gardens, street fountains

Aurangabad, Sept 7:

The municipal commissioner and administrator of Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC), Abhijeet Chaudhari, inspected the vertical gardens and street fountains (being built and developed to reduce the prevailing air pollution threat in the city), to commemorate the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies (on September 7).

It may be noted that the vertical gardens are primarily built upon nullahs and places attracting dust in large quantities. Hence the civic chief visited Bhagwan Mahavir Chowk Flyover, Nageshwarwadi and AMC headquarters (Town Hall) and inspected the vertical gardens. He also inspected the street fountain at Bhagwan Mahavir Chowk.

The civic chief applauded the garden superintendent Vijay Patil and junior engineer Gopichand Chandak for their efforts. Additional commissioner B B Nemane, city engineer S D Panzade, deputy commissioner Somnath Jadhav, executive engineer R N Sandha, public relations officer Tauseef Ahmed and ward officer Asadullah Khan were present on the occasion.

The AMC has received the aid of Rs 1 crore under the 15th Finance Commission from the Central Government to undertake measures to improve the air quality in the city under National Clean Air Programme (NCAP). The AMC is utilising the fund to build vertical gardens at 10 different places.

Rs 5 crore spent on fountains

The AMC also got funds from the Centre for undertaking other initiatives to improve the air quality. Hence the AMC is also constructing street fountains at important squares and circles by spending Rs 3 crore. The contractor will have to maintain them for the next three years. The street fountains will come up at Damdi Mahal, N-1 near Pyramid, N-2 Kamgar Chowk, Ashok Stambh opposite Dhoot Hospital, Cidco Flyover opposite Vasantrao Naik statue, Ekta Chowk in Shahnoormiyan Dargah, Bhagwan Mahaveer Chowk and old Mondha Chowk.

Besides, an aid of Rs 2 crore is also being spent on repairing the existing and developing fountains at Siddharth Garden, Dr Salim Ali Lake, Swami Vivekanand Garden and Jyotinagar Garden.