Managing Kumbh Mela to public housing: Modi takes lessons from New York Mayor

New York: With an eye on his pet project of rejuvenation of urban spaces, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today had a meeting with New York Mayor Bill de Blasio during which the issues related to large cities, especially common threats of terror, policing, public housing and crowd management in the events like ‘Kumbh Mela’ were discussed.

The meeting, which was the Prime Minister’s first official engagement after arriving here, was also aimed at understanding how the New York police metamorphosed after the 9/11 terror attacks in which over 3,000 people were killed and landmark twin towers of World Trade Center were destroyed.

“The Prime Minister wanted to understand what are the issues that he faces, because he is extremely keen on trying to rejuvenate our urban spaces too,” spokesperson in Ministry of External Affairs Syed Akbaruddin told reporters here and added that crowd management in big cities and at big events like the Kumbh Mela were also discussed to understand the practices adopted by the New York city government.

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Discussions were focused on matters related to public housing, he said, adding that New York City is planning to build some half a million houses in 10 years.

In his meeting with the New York Mayor, discussion also focused on issues related to steps taken to improve the quality of life in New York and in this regard the anti-smoking laws in both the countries also figured.

The Prime Minister, he said, was also keen to understand the security steps taken by the city following 9/11. “There was a fairly detailed discussion on this. In this context they also discussed common threats faced by big cities in terms of terror threats,” Akbaruddin said.

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The Prime Minister also referred to how New York City could assist Indian cities in handling large crowds, he said. “Of course the Mayor did understand the magnitude in terms of large gatherings, far exceeded what they were handling for example India’s ‘Kumbh Mela’. The meeting lasted for about half an hour,” he added.

PTI