Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs, Petroleum and Natural Gas, Sh Hardeep Singh Puri today inaugurated Construction of Vertical Garden under Flyover at B.C Road, Jammu.The Minister said that vertical gardens are particularly suitable for cities, as they allow good use of available vertical surface areas. They could also function for Urban Agriculture, Urban Gardening or for its beauty as a piece of art, he added.The Vertical Garden project was initiated under Smart City Project which involves covering the flyover columns with vertical garden/ bio wall system to beautify the entire stretch.The Minister was appraised that about 25 pairs of piers of the flyover between Dogra Chowk to K.C Chowk have been covered and around 42000 plants of 12 different species are strung on bio-panels with plantation dedicated drip irrigation system for bio-panels which are serviced by two bore wells and four underground tanks has been used in the project. In addition to that landscaping of the area is also done.The Minister was informed that the vertical garden which is also known as green wall or living wall is self-sufficient and is attached to exterior or interior walls of a building.The project approach is to bring about an overall aesthetic improvement below the flyover along with adding some greenery to give respite from pollution.It was informed to the Minister that seats at regular intervals, aesthetic LED lighting, free standing water curtains have also been involved in the project.In vertical gardens, various types of modular panels have been used along with geo-textile fabrics, growing media, irrigation systems and plants.While interacting with the media persons, the Minister said that the Prime Minister’s commitment regarding J&K’s development is in full swing. The Minister said that there are many schemes and projects under Housing and Urban Affairs and Smart City Project is one of them.Calling Smart City Project an ‘Urban Revolution’, he said that it is about providing urban services through technology and is comprised of Smart Traffic Management, Smart Security Management and many other facilities. He also informed that 3500 Special Purpose Vehicles are going to be tendered soon.Regarding Gas pipeline, he said that it will reach Jammu by 2024. The Minister also said that Swachchta Abhiyan succeeded because it became Jan Andolan.Member Parliament, Jugal Kishore Sharma; Mayor Jammu Municipal Corporation, Chander Mohan Gupta; Principal Secretary HUDD, Dheeraj Gupta; Joint Secretary MoHUA, Pankaj Kumar Singh; Deputy Commissioner Jammu, Anshul Garg; Chief Executive Officer JSCL, Avny Lavasa; Municipal Councillors of various wards, members of District Development Council and senior officers from Jammu Smart City, Jammu Municipal Corporation, Housing and Urban Development Department were present on the occasion.
