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In a major accomplishment for the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government, the state has been ranked 3rd in the country in terms of ‘Smart Cities’, with Agra emerging as the third smartest city.
Overall, Uttar Pradesh has received 10 awards spanning various categories.
The announcement was made during the two-day India Smart City Conclave 2023, organised by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs at the Brilliant Convention Centre in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. The event concluded with an award ceremony on Wednesday, which was attended by President Droupadi Murmu.
President Droupadi Murmu presented the ‘Third Best State Award’ to UP.  On behalf of the state government, Principal Secretary Urban Development Amrit Abhijat and Smart City Mission director, Dharmendra Pratap Singh received the award.
Notably, a contest was organised by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs in various categories among 100 smart cities of the country last year, in which Agra managed to secure a place in the top three.
Under the Smart City Mission, Uttar Pradesh is developing 10 cities, including Agra, Aligarh, Bareilly, Jhansi, Kanpur, Lucknow, Moradabad, Prayagraj, Saharanpur and Varanasi as smart cities.
A total of 670 projects are proposed in these cities including smart roads, smart parking, parks, water bodies and better civic amenities such as sanitation, water supply, street lighting and sewerage.
The estimated cost of these projects are Rs 9313.45 crore. So far, 456 projects valued at Rs 5889.14 crore have been successfully completed, while 214 projects with a total expenditure of Rs 3424.31 crore are currently in progress. Notably, Agra, Kanpur, Varanasi, and Jhansi have received their full funding allocation, while Lucknow, Bareilly, Prayagraj and Aligarh are yet to receive their final installments.
In the ranking, Agra and Varanasi, consistently remain among the top 10 cities while Agra, Varanasi and Kanpur, are managing to feature in top 20 cities.