India News | Chandigarh, Indore, Jammu Among 11 Winners of Pilot Stage of 'EatSmart Cities Challenge'

New Delhi, Mar 16 (PTI) Chandigarh, Indore, Jammu and Surat were among the 11 cities selected on Wednesday as winners of the pilot stage of the "EatSmart Cities Challenge" launched recently by the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry, according to a statement.

Other winning cities were Jabalpur, Panaji, Rajkot, Rourkela, Sagar, Tumakuru and Ujjain.

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The challenge was launched in collaboration with Food Safety and Standards Authority of India on April 15, 2021 to scale up the "Eat Right India" approach.

The statement stated that the challenge has the objective of motivating Smart Cities to develop a plan that supports a healthy, safe and sustainable food environment backed by institutional, physical, social, and economic infrastructure along with application of "smart" solutions to combat food related issues.

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All cities under the 'Smart Cities Mission, capitals of states and union territories, and cities with population of more than 5,00,000 had been invited to participate in the challenge.

A total of 108 cities registered and 36 cities submitted their score cards and vision forms on the basis of the Eat Right India Framework and the pilot activities conducted, the ministry said.

Upon evaluation, 11 cities have been selected as winners by a jury comprising national and international experts from Milan Urban Food Policy Pact (MUFPP), Food Foundation and NeTPRoFaN (Network of Professionals of Food and Nutrition).

These winning cities will be awarded Rs 50 lakh each from the HUA Ministry and be involved for deep engagement over a period of next 12 months to scale up their plan, including implementation of the "Eat Right India initiatives", the statement also said.

The ministry said Chandigarh has ambitious plans to engage a broad range of food industry stakeholders and roll out behaviour changes campaigns that have been initiated in the cities academic institutions.

Also, Indore undertook sustainable food policy actions, including recycling at the household level, and a food surplus programme which included 100 businesses donating surplus food.

Jammu had presented urban agriculture projects along with vertical gardens, composts and technology intervention to manage food waste.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)