The central government released the list of 98 cities chosen to be the ‘Smart Cities’ under the Prime Minister’s Dream Project of ‘Smart Cities’.
12 cities are included from Tamil Nadu including Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore, and Trichy.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Smart City Project at a cost of Rs. 48000 Crores to build 100 smart cities with detailed guidelines and policies.
The state governments selected the cities and forwarded to the central government for this project. Based on this, th central government has now released the list of the planned ‘Smart Cities’. This list was released by the central minister for urban development and welfare, Mr. Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday, 27thAugust.
13 cities from Uttar Pradesh, 12 cities from Tamil Nadu, 10 cities from Maharashtra, 7 cities from Madhya Pradesh, 6 cities each from the states of Karnataka & Gujarat, 3 cities each from the states of Bihar & Andhra and 1 or 2 cities from the rest of the states areincluded in this list.
Union territories including Delhi are also included in this list.
Chennai, Trichy, Thirunelveali, Dindigul, Tanjotre, Thirupur, Salem, Vellore, Coimbatore, Madurai, Erode, and Tuticorin are the 12 cities from Tamil Nadu.
After releasing the ‘Smart Cities’ list, Minister Mr. Venkaiah Naidu had a chat with press reporters. Uttar Pradesh has bee allotted 13 cities and Jammu & Kashmir, one. However, the state of Kashmir has recommended the 2 cities of Jammu& Srinagar. It has been asked to select either one of the two.
12 cities have been selcte from Uttar Pradesh including Lucknow, Varanasi, Agra, and Aligarh.
The cities of Meerut & Rae Bareli have equal opportunism. Hence, 13th city has not been selected.
Central government will be disbursing the amount of Rs. 2 Crores for each city in a couple of days.
In the 1st stage, an amout of Rs. 500 Crores will bw given for 20 cities. In the next 2 years, financial assistance will be given to 40 cities ina gradual process.
Foreign countries including USA, Britain, France, Spain, Germany, Japan, China, Singapore, Australia, and Israel have shown keen interest to participate in this project.
The project will be a joint effort of the central & state governments benefitting 12 Crore people in the country.
It is interesting to note some of the better-known cities like Patna, Ita Nagar, Simla, Bengaluru, Daman, Thiruvananthapuram, Puducherry, Gangtok, and Kohim which arestate capitals as they had not been ncluded in the recommended list submitted by the state governments.
‘Uzhavarkarai’ has been selected in the Union territory of Puducherry. Maharashtra government had recommended Navi Mumbai in place of Mumbai.
The list of Smart Cities announced includes 24 state capitals, 24 trade & industrial centres, 18 tourist & cultural attractions, 5 port cities, and 5 cities noed for its education & medical faculties.
Economics Expert Mr. Devendra Kumar Pant expressed his opinions about the smart cities project. Provision of 24 hours of water supply, 24 hours functioning sewerage system, and solid waste management would be a challenging task. Fixing the rates for all important high quality services would be an important aspect.
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