Lucknow, New Town in Kolkata, Bhagalpur and Dharamsala are among the 13 urban centres picked to be developed as smart cities under the Modi government’s ambitious plan for an urban overhaul.
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The benchmarks have been set by the top performers in the first round of Smart City Challenge competition, in which 20 cities have been selected in the first list from 98 mission cities.
Other cities, which won this round, were Chandigarh, Raipur (Chhattisgarh), New Town Kolkata, Bhagalpur (Bihar), Panaji (Goa), Port Blair (Andaman and Nicobar Islands), Imphal (Manipur), Ranchi (Jharkhand), Agartala (Tripura) and Faridabad (Haryana).
“As many as 9 out of these 13 cities scored 25 per cent more over their smart city proposal submitted previously”, M Venkaiah Naidu, Union Urban Development Minister, said.
Water and power supply, sanitation and solid waste management systems, efficient urban mobility and public transportation, IT connectivity, e-governance and citizen participation are some of the highlights of the smart city project.
The government has announced the next set of cities that won the smart city contest, with Lucknow topping the list.
Amaravati, Patna, Shimla, Naya Raipur, Itanagar, Bengaluru and Thiruvanantapuram are the seven cities that left out from the Smart City mission are now allowed for competition. “The new approaches introduced, the new churning at the level of urban local bodies and States/UTs, the new spirit of competition among cities and Stated to do better than others, the new enthusiasm and vigor being demonstrated, the new clarity of thought about outcomes and actions to be taken and the new beginning towards urban transformation in a more purposeful and holistic manner marked the process of urban renaissance” he said.
What is a smart city? Two slots were vacant as the states of Uttar Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir failed to shortlist one city each due to a tie.
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In the first round announced in January, 13 cities out of the total 20 mission cities were from BJP and its allies ruled states of Odisha, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab, whereas two cities from Congress-ruled state of Karnataka. Of this, an investment of Rs.1,48,093 cr has already been approved.
