The NDA Government’s ambitious flagship scheme, 100 Smart City Mission, kicked off on Thursday with the Urban Development Ministry releasing Rs2 crore each to the 96 out of 98 shortlisted cities for preparing smart city development plan.
The plan has to be submitted within the next three months. The two cities, Delhi and Chandigarh, which happen to be Union Territories will get fund via the Home Ministry.
Addressing a Smart City regional workshop held in the Capital for ten northern states and Gujarat, Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu said that a ‘Smart City’ is what the citizens want their places to be and the city-level plans should be evolved based on extensive consultations with them.
Smart City Plans will be evaluated in the second stage of city challenge competition based on such consultations and their economic and environmental impacts, Naidu said.
The workshop held for the first time after announcement of the names of the cities to be developed as smart cities discussed various aspects of preparation of the plans and related issues.
Mayors and civic chairpersons and municipal commissioners from cities included in Smart City Mission and Principal Secretaries of Urban Development from these states, besides, representatives of domestic and global technical agencies and consultants and multi-lateral lending agencies attended the workshop.
Reacting to the comments of UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav that smart cities are like wearing a “tie on kurta and pyjama” Naidu said, “One can look smart even in a good kurta and pyjama as in the case of Akhilesh Yadav himself. But the question is how many cities in UP and the country are like such good kurta and pyjamaIJ