Govt announces 13 winners of Fast track Smart City competition; Lucknow tops list

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday announced 13 winners of Fast track Smart City competition which was topped by Lucknow.

The 13 winners of Fast track Smart City competition include the following:

1. Lucknow

2.Warangal

3.Dharamsala

4.Chandigarh

5.Raipur

6.New Town Kolkata

7.Bhagalpur

8.Panaji

9.Port Blair

10.Imphal

11.Ranchi

12.Agartala

13.Faridabad

23 cities with the highest ranking from as many states and union terrritories, which failed to get representation in the first round of competition held in January participated in the 'Fast Track Competition'.

Only 12 states and UTs were represented in the first list of 20 mission cities announced in 'Smart City Challenge Competition' on January 28.

The 23 cities which competed under Fast Track Competition include Warangal (Telangana); Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh); New Town Kolkata; Panaji (Goa); Pasighat (Arunachal Pradesh); Dharmashala (Himachal Pradesh); Faridabad (Haryana); and Raipur (Chattisgarh).

Others included Bhagalpur (Bihar); Shillong (Meghalaya); Namchi (Sikkim); Port Blair (Andaman & Nicobar Islands); Diu (Daman & Diu); Oulgaret (Puducherry); Silvassa (Dadra & Nagar Haveli); Imphal (Manipur); Ranchi (Jharkhand); Agartala (Tripura); Kohima (Nagaland); Aizawl (Mizoram) Kavaratti (Lakshadweep), Dehradun (Uttarakhand) and Chandigarh.

Assured water and power supply, sanitation and solid waste management systems, efficient urban mobility and public transportation, IT connectivity, e-governance and citizen participation are some of the highlights of the smart city project.

Under the Smart City Mission, 100 cities across the country will be developed as smart cities by 2019-20 with the Union government providing financial support to the extent of Rs 48,000 crore over five years.

While 20 smart cities were selected during 2015-16 as per the Mission guidelines, another 40 would be selected during 2016-17 and the remaining 40 during the next financial year.

Each city selected in different rounds of competition will be given central assistance of Rs 200 crore in the first year and Rs 100 crore each during the subsequent three financial years.

State governments and respective urban local bodies will provide matching funds to the same amount.

With PTI Inputs