Despite the fact that several infrastructure development projects undertaken under the Belagavi Smart City Project have been criticised for their poor quality and implementation, Belagavi Smart City has won the Inclusivity Award instituted by the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) Smart Solutions Challenge for Inclusive Cities.
The National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) and the United Nations in India have launched the Smart Solutions Challenge to solve city-level accessibility and inclusion concerns. The programme aims to harness creative solutions to achieve sustainable development goals and to ensure universal access to secure, inclusive, and accessible green and public spaces, with a focus on women and children, the elderly, and people with disabilities.
PAN City Implemented Solutions was the category, and Belagavi Smart City took top place for its Multi-Dimensional Inclusiveness in Education and Healthcare. However, astonished by the criteria used to rank Belagavi Smart City first, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has questioned the reasoning behind bestowing such a prestigious prize on Belagavi. claiming that the Belagavi Smart City Project has taken on the greatest quantity of substandard work.
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