NEW DELHI: After missing the Smart City bus in the first round, Varanasi is now revamping its proposal for the second round inculcating recommendations of an expert panel set up by the Centre.

After poor performance in first round with score of just 40 out of 100, Varanasi is now preparing a revised proposal to be submitted by June 30 to the Centre. The city stood at 96th position among the 98 cities that participated in the first round.

SWOT analysis of Varanasi's first proposal by the expert panel had identified a number of challenges for the city like the deteriorating quality of life, health hazards due to non-management of waste, ageing and old school profile of city resisting change, low road safety standards and alarming levels of noise and air pollution.

To improve on this, the expert panel has recommended the revised plan to aim at "reviving the glory of Varanasi" by conserving and promoting its heritage, protecting its cultural and traditional environment to boost tourism and employment besides provide quality urban services.

The city has been advised to build on its strengths of being a heritage city and one of the oldest cities dating back 4,000 years having various monuments like ghats, temples and mosques and being a city of diversified art and culture besides being an educational hub with four universities and having good air, rail and road connectivity.

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