Ludhiana (Rajkumar Sathi). The Communist Party of India has expressed astonishment at the news that Ludhiana is one among the top smart cities in the country. Cities are not made of bricks ‘n stones or flyovers but by the human beings who live in them. Therefore a city can be termed as smart only if it fulfills the needs for basic amenities for the vast majority and helps in improvement of life and living standards of all the citizens. The present smart City project sans any reference to the issues and needs of the poor section and toiling masses. The workers are living in poor and unhygienic conditions and in highly congested areas devoid of basic amenities. Because of high cost they have to share rooms many times one room for several persons. This affects their health and working capabilities. There is no effective implementation of minimum wages to these workers. Many of them are not registered so are devoid of the basic facilities of ESI and PF etc. The vendors have to face the wrath of Mafia and a section of officials of the municipal corporation and section of the police. Delay in implementation of the vending zones act is the cause of their poor condition. There is hardly any mention of their woes in this smart City project. There is no good arrangement for the people from lower social economic groups to get quality education and health. Roads, particularly in the peripheral areas where lower income group people reside are in very bad shape. These areas lack basic amenities like sanitation and even drinking water supply. Therefore it would be wrong to label Ludhiana as an upcoming smart City until the above issues are addressed genuinely. Those who issued the statement include Comrades D P Maur, district secretary CPI, district assistant secretaries Dr Arun Mitra & Chamkaur Singh, M S Bhatia Ludhiana City secretary and Ludhiana City assistant secretaries Kulwant Kaur, Vijay Kumar and Vinod Kumar
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