Though criticised by the Congress, the Centre’s bid to build Smart Cities under its ambitious ‘100 Smart Cities Mission’ got a thumbs up on Friday by the Ministers, mayors and municipal councilors from various States cutting across the party lines.
In reaction to the comments by the Congress that ‘Smart Cities’ project was ‘elitist’ in nature, Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu at an event here asked the representatives from the States and municipal bodies if they also shared the same thoughts.
“Do you feel that the proposed Smart Cities are elitist and pro-rich and will not benefit the poorIJ If anyone of you feels so, please raise your hand and kindly speak out your mind,” Naidu asked the Ministers, mayors and municipal chairpersons attending the two-day consultations on Smart Cities Mission, AMRUT and Housing-for-All in urban areas here.
But nobody raised their hands to the Urban Development Minister’s question. They responded instead saying, “We want more.”
“We need to make all our existing cities smart. This concept is elitist and will benefit only few,” Congress leader Ajay Maken had said on Thursday. He said that the “creation of new smart cities will not solve the problem”.
At the meet at Vigyan Bhavan here, Naidu then read out a newspaper report on Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav demanding more smart cities for his State over and above the 13 assigned it by the UD Ministry — the highest in the country based on the objective and uniform criteria of urban population and number of cities/towns.
“If the Smart Cities benefit only the rich, are there then so many rich people in UP; and why the CM is asking for moreIJ” asked Naidu.
The Minister said that making cities smart is all about developing roads and efficient public transport, ensuring supply of quality water and power, improving urban governance to ensure citizen participation, transparency, accountability and more employment opportunities through enhanced economic activity.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Thursday launched the operational guidelines for the development of 100 Smart Cities across the country.
Naidu said, “All this will benefit the most the poor who are now forced to live on the fringes of growing urbanisation. Rich like Ambanis do not need Smart Cities. They are already living smart. Present urban scenario is benefiting the rich and we are keen to change it in favour of the poor.”