The Narendra Modi government seems to be expanding its smart city programme. In the latest move, the government has added nine more cities to the programme, which was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi two years ago.


COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

Since its inception, the NDA government had identified 90 cities that would be developed as smart cities, and with the latest addition, the number has gone up to 99.


The announcement of new cities in the list was made by Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri. The list has three names from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Uttar Pradesh, apart from those from different states.


Here’s the list of the new cities in smart city programme:


1. Silvassa (Dadra and Nagar Haveli)


2. Erode (Tamil Nadu)


3. Diu (Daman & Diu)


4. Bihar Sharif (Bihar)


5. Bareilly (Uttar Pradesh)


6. Itanagar (Arunachal Pradesh)


7. Moradabad (Uttar Pradesh)


8. Saharanpur (Uttar Pradesh)


9. Kavaratti (Lakshwadeep)


The nine cities were selected from 15 cities that had submitted their proposals to the ministry, the official said.


Uttar Pradesh's Meerut, Ghaziabad, Rampur and Rae Bareli were among cities that failed to make the cut for Smart City tag.


Silvasa topped the list of winners in this round.


"The nine cities selected have proposed an investment of Rs 12,824 crore... Which would be impacting 35.3 lakh persons living in these areas," Puri told a press conference.


He said these cities have proposed to take up various project, including "smart" roads, rejuvenation of water bodies, cycle tracks, walking paths, smart classrooms, skill development centres, upgradation of health facilities and pan city projects like integrated command control centre.


These cities have proposed 409 projects which would get around 61 per cent funding from the Centre and the state, Puri said.


The last addition to the list of smart cities was done by the government in June 2017. As many as 30 cities were included in the programme.


Some of the names included were Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala), Muzaffarpur (Bihar), Satna (Madhya Pradesh), Shimla (Himachal Pradesh), Dehradun (Uttarakhand) and Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir).


(With PTI Inputs)