Lucknow tops list of 13 new Smart Cities; Fbd, Chandigarh make cut

The other 10 cities that have been selected in the second list of the first phase of the smart cities mission are Warangal (Telangana), Bhagalpur (Bihar), Raipur, Port Blair (Andaman & Nicobar), Imphal (Manipur), Panaji (Goa), Agartala (Tripura), Faridabad (Haryana), Chandigarh and Dharamsala (Himachal Pradesh).

The state capitals that have been given another chance to participate in the Smart City competition include Patna, Shimla, Naya Raipur, Itanagar, Amravati, Bangalore and Thiruvananthapuram. The decision in this regard has been taken after Chief Ministers of states urged the Centre to consider state capitals under the Smart City mission.

To increase the representation of states in the mission, these cities have been selected from the 23 cities which took part in a fast track competition. This takes the number of cities selected in the first phase of the Smart Cities Mission to 33.

Addressing a press meet, Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said: “The 13 cities have substantially improved their smart city plans by addressing the deficiencies identified in the first round of competition by ensuring better profiling of respective cities in terms of infrastructure gaps and baseline service levels, ensuring consistency between citizens’ aspirations and action plans.”

As two slots were vacant as the states of Uttar Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir failed to shortlist one city each due to a tie, the Centre has allowed all four cities to participate in the competition. Meerut and Raibareilly in Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Srinagar in J&K will now be included in the competition.