Two cities from Punjab – Amritsar and Ludhiana – also made it to the third list announced by Union urban development minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday.
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Vadodara, Agra, Nagpur, Ajmer, Amritsar, Gwalior, Thane and Thanjavur are some of the other cities that have been named to be developed as smart cities. While five new smart cities in Maharashtra have been announced, the southern states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka bagged 4 cities each.
An investment of almost Rs 67,000 crore will be needed for the 27 cities.
Nagpur can now heave sigh of relief as it has finally crossed its first barrier in way to become a smart city. One city each from Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Gujarat, Sikkim and Nagaland has been selected in this round.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s parliamentary constituency Varanasi is one of three cities from Uttar Pradesh that have made the grade for central funds for a makeover.
With continuous power and water supply, internet connectivity, e-governance and quality infrastructure, smart cities are meant to revolutionise the way urban India lives.
Agra and Kanpur are other two cities from the state that goes to polls next year.
When the first list of 20 cities was selected in January, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar had said the list was tilted heavily in favour of the NDA-ruled states.
State governments and respective urban local bodies will also match the Centre’s contribution. In June this year, Modi launched projects in 20 cities selected under the mission, officially kick-starting the project.
The Government aims to transform about 100 cities by 2019-20, with the Centre providing financial support of Rs. 48,000 crores over five years.
The Cabinet has approved Rs 48,000 crore, that is nearly Rs 100 crore per city per year for five years for the mission.
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The selection process of remaining 40 cities under the “100 smart cities” mission will commence in January 2017, he added.
