Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, June 23: Both Jammu and Srinagar, the twin rotational capital cities of Jammu and Kashmir made it to the new list of 30 Smart Cities announced today by the Centre under Smart City Mission in which total of 100 cities would be developed across the country.
The State Government had proposed only two Smart Cities for Jammu and Kashmir and both of them have been selected during third round of contest, official sources told the Excelsior and added that Srinagar figured at No. 10 and Jammu at No. 21 in the list of 30 Smart Cities, which were selected through competition from out of a total of 45 cities, which contested for 40 available slots.
The State Government wanted both Jammu and Srinagar to be declared as Smart Cities in one go in view of regional aspirations of the people as declaration of one City as successful under the Smart City Mission would have lead to agitation in the other region like All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and Central University etc.
Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh, who holds the charge of Housing and Urban Development Department, said work on making Jammu and Srinagar as Smart Cities would begin after preparation of Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) of the works that would be taken in the two cities.
Sources said an investment of Rs 57,393 crore has been proposed for development of 30 Smart Cities, announced today by the Centre. “Of the planned expenditure, Rs 46,879 crore will be for core infrastructure and Rs 10,514 crore for technology-based solutions,” they added.
With this, the total investment approved under the Smart City Plans of 90 cities has gone up to Rs 1,91,155 crore.
Construction of 100 Smart Cities in the country on the pattern of developed nations had been conceived by Prime Minister Narendra Modi after taking over the reign of affairs of the country in 2014. So far, 90 countries have been selected for development as Smart Cities through competition bids in three rounds. Twenty more cities will now be competing for remaining 10 cities under the Smart City Mission in fourth and final round, sources said.
They added that the Central Government would be spending Rs 500 crores on each Smart City to develop facilities like up-graded traffic, electricity, power, water, drainage, communication and related systems. The Smart Cities would have all facilities at par with any developed City in the western countries, they said.
For Jammu and Kashmir, the Government has earmarked Rs 500 crores in Prime Minister’s Development Plan (PMDP) worth Rs 80,000 crores for development of two Smart Cities. Remaining Rs 500 crores would be released in due course of time as the sources admitted that making of a Smart City is not an easy task and could take long time.
“Development of Smart Cities would require number of experts and could consume lot of time,” sources pointed out.
Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, Naya Raipur in Chhattisgarh and Rajkot in Gujarat also figured in the new list of 30 Smart Cities. Thiruvananthapuram took the first slot, followed Naya Raipur, Rajkot, Andhra Pradesh capital Amaravati, and Bihar capital Patna.
Four cities in Tamil Nadu — Tiruppur, Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi and Tiruchirappalli, and three in Uttar Pradesh — Jhansi, Allahabad and Aligarh — also made it to the list.
Of the 30 cities announced today, 26 have proposed affordable housing projects that benefit the urban poor, 26 cities will be taking up school and hospital projects while 29 will be taking up redesign and redevelopment of roads.
All 30 cities will put in place integrated command and control centres that enable coordination among various agencies for better service delivery and effective management of scarce resources such as water and power, sources said.
Referring to reports that maximum funds are being allocated to a small part of a city areas under the plan, sources said the citizens and city governments proposed the projects for fixing the infrastructure deficit in their respective cities.
“That is how urban development has been approached in countries such as the US. Nowhere in the world a city has been made smart overnight in one go,” sources said.
Meanwhile, Union Minister for Housing and Urban Development Vankiah Naidu today distributed Rs 500 crore among various states for carrying out reforms in the urban sector. Last year, Rs 400 crore were given to the states.
For the next three years, incentive funds of Rs 10,000 crore are approved for recognizing the efforts by States in urban transformation, Naidu said.
Other cities that figured in the latest smart city list included Karimnagar (Telangana), Muzaffarpur (Bihar), Puducherry, Gandhinagar and Dahod (Gujarat), Sagar and Satna (Madhya Pradesh) and Karnal (Haryana).
Bengaluru (Karnataka), Shimla (Himachal Pradesh), Dehradun (Uttarakhand), Pimpri-Chinchwad (Maharash-tra), Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh), Pasighat (Arunachal Pradesh), Aizawl (Mizoram) and Gangtok (Sikkim) were also selected.
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