Carmel city Mayor in awe of Visakhapatnam

Visakhapatnam: City of Carmel, Indiana, Mayor James Brainard said that Visakhapatnam is the most beautiful city he has ever seen in India.

Expressing happiness over the Carmel-Visakhapatnam sister city committee arrangement, he hoped that many people in Carmel would visit Visakhapatnam and vice-versa.

After interacting with the head of the departments, the City of Carmel Mayor mentioned that Visakhapatnam paints a picture of cleanliness and the civic body is considering all measures to make it more people-friendly. “Environment plays an important role for our future. We all need to work collectively to conserve it,” he underlined.

Reiterating how he was impressed with the GVMC’s focus on maintaining sanitation and making the city beautiful and sustainable, he laid emphasis that some of the best practices followed in Visakhapatnam, including floating solar panels, will be absorbed and recommended in his city as well. “The concept of floating solar panels is something I have not seen anywhere else and the idea will probably be taken back to the US,” he mentioned.

Calling for coordinated efforts to bring down carbon emissions, James Brainard underlined the need to switch over to renewable energy to conserve the environment for future generations. “In the USA, there is a lot of carbon presence and we still need to work on reducing carbon emissions and we are working hard for it.

Visiting Kailasagiri, floating solar power project in Mudasarlova, waste to energy plant at Kapuluppada, Reduce Reuse and Recycle centre at Yendada, Andhra University and several other places in Visakhapatnam, James Brainard termed the city as the most beautiful destination for people visiting from various parts of the world.

James Brainard stated that Indians form 10 percent of the City of Carmel’s total population and a lot of focus is being paid on theatre arts. He suggested a cultural exchange programme so that performing art groups from the City of Carmel could visit cities and learn from one another.

Earlier, a digital presentation was given on the eco-friendly practices of the GVMCs, the role of STPs, the need to switchover to alternative bags from plastic ones, involvement of students in environmental conservation practices, community engagement in various endeavours, solid waste management, future projects of the civic body and VMRDA, etc.,.

The meeting with the HoDs was attended by Mayor G Hari Venkata Kumari, Deputy Mayor Jiyyani Sridhar, Additional Commissioner V Sanyasi Rao, among others.