Shimla to be developed as resilient city

SHIMLA: Joining four cities across the world, Shimla would be developed as a resilient city so that it can survive and thrive in the most difficult times and challenges.Four other cities, where special researches are being carried out to help them become resilient, are Hong Kong in China, Liverpool in England, Cape Town in South Africa and New Orleans in US.The research would be carried out by International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), Italian group-ARUP and Rockerfeller Foundation in collaboration with Shimla Municipal Corporation.Ramiz Khan from ICLEI, ARUP member Sachin Bhoite and Rockerfeller foundation members with the help civic body have carried out a preliminary research on Shimla for around two weeks.Sachin Bhoite said they have created a resilience index of Shimla after talking to 53 people from 24 departments. "We asked them 158 types of qualitative and same number of quantitative questions. On the basis of responses we got, we created a profile of Shimla to understand how resilient Shimla is," he added.He said after two weeks of the questioning process, they met 45 different stakeholders on Wednesday observing that resilience is an important issue for Shimla so as to identify its critical gaps and strengths.Bhoite said in the entire process, two major points had come up about Shimla city -- one is integrated development planning and the other diversified economy in Shimla."The ongoing test, compiled research work and the results will be provided to SMC by the end of October," Bhoite added.Shimla deputy mayor Tikender Singh Panwar said during Wednesday's workshop with stakeholders, researchers found a wide gap between Shimla's citizens and the government. "So citizens of this city along with various government departments would have to play an effective role to contribute in city's qualitative development," he added."This ongoing research would help city improve its parameters like infrastructure, economy, livelihood and employment, security, law and order. This programme will be included under city's development plan," Panwar added.