Aurangabad, June 25:
Majhi Smart Bus - the public transport introduced by the Aurangabad Smart City Development Corporation Limited (ASCDCL), in Aurangabad, has bagged the first position in the India Smart Cities Award (ISAC) 2020 under the Urban Mobility category. The union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has declared the results today.
The second and third positions have been secured by Surat and Ahmedabad cities. Aurangabad has been selected for Majhi Smart Bus, while Surat has been selected for ' Dynamic Scheduling of Bus' and Ahmedabad for 'Automated Parking System.'
The MoHUA organised the virtual programme to mark the 6th anniversary of AMRUT, PMAY (U) and Smart Cities Mission in the presence of MoHUA minister Hardeep Singh Puri, secretary Durga Shankar Mishra and Smart Cities Mission Director Kunal Kumar. ASCDCL chief executive officer Astik Kumar Pandey and additional CEO Arun Shinde and others attended the programme.
Dedication of service
The Smart City Bus project was launched by erstwhile Yuva Sena leader and state's minister Aditya Thackeray in January 2019. A fleet of 100 buses was operated on 32 routes in the city. Around 87 lakh passengers had availed of the transport service, so far.
The first wave hit the city in March 2020. The buses played a vital role during the pandemic situation. The ASCDCL and the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) utilised the buses as Covid ambulances to transport the patients as well as health workers from home to the centres and covered a distance of more than 4 lakh kilometres.
Relaunch of bus service
The city bus service was re-launched after the Covid-19 lockdown in November 2020. The bus service was equipped with all-digital facilities like e-ticketing, Smart Card, bus tracking mobile app and a whole range of new and attractive schemes.
United efforts paid-off
The ASCDCL-CEO A K Pandey congratulated the Smart City team for taking united efforts and dedicating themselves for the past few years. The citizens of Aurangabad also share the credit for the success as they availed the bus service with affection. I appeal to the citizens to avail the bus service and benefit from the digitised facilities and schemes of the Smart Bus, he said.