The Varanasi Smart City was awarded in four different categories at the India Smart City Award contest organised by the Ministry of Urban and Housing Affairs (MoHUA), Government of India (GoI) in Surat on Monday. The spokesperson of Varanasi Smart City, Shakambhari Nandan Sonthalia, told the media that the awards included Covid Innovation Award, Smart City Leadership Award, City Award, and Water Conservation Award. He said that Varanasi Smart City municipal commissioner and CEO Pranay Singh, chief general manager Dr. D Vasudevan, general manager (finance and accounts), Sandeep Kumar received the awards. He said that the Covid Innovation Award was given for its outstanding initiatives during the outbreak of the Covid-19 and severe lockdown. During this period, the Kashi Integrated Command and Control Centre served as an Integrated War Room, where district administration, emergency services, telemedicine, health department, municipal corporation related facilities, food, and civil supplies were integrated under one roof. Also, the contaminated zones tracking and cluster mapping were done by Geographical Information System (GIS). Apart from this, Kashi Integrated Command and Control Centre has also done the works of sanitization of containment zones and medicine delivery by drones, Safe Kashi App, city surveillance, and hospital monitoring. The city was awarded the Smart City Leadership Award for its efficient functioning and appropriate implementation of projects, the City Award for the cities to be selected in the second phase, and the Water Category Award for water conservation. Municipal commissioner and CEO Pranay Singh told the media that it is a matter of great pride that Varanasi Smart City has been awarded in four different categories. The chief general manager Dr. D Vasudevan described this award as the award of all Kashi and gave his best wishes to all the citizens of Kashi. Image Source