Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 31: While Kavaratti city in Lakshadweep with a small population of just 12,210 souls has been approved as Smart City, J&K State with a population of 1.30 crore has once again humbled on Smart City issue by the Modi Government at the Centre.
This was stated by former Minister and National Panthers Party chairman, Harshdev Singh here today. Expressing indignation over the gross neglect of J&K State in the matter of development of Pan-India Smart cities by the Union Govt, Mr Singh strongly condemned the State Govt for its failure to get due share of Smart cities for the State as promised earlier by the Central Govt. He regretted that the recently released list of 98 Smart Cities does not include even a single city from J&K despite the assurances of Union Urban Development Ministry to grant four Smart cities to J&K.
Mr Singh said that out of the remaining two Smart Cities yet to be announced by the Union Govt, one falls in UP as Union Govt has yet to decide between Meerut and Rai Bareilly but uncertainty still prevailed over the location of the second Smart City.
Terming the deprivation of J&K as sinister and malevolent, NPP leader recalled that on the invitation of the Central Government, J&K State had proposed the development of four Smart cities in January this year. Subsequently, the State Government had identified Jammu, Srinagar, Katra and Anantnag which were proposed by the Governor NN Vohra for the development of Smart Cities under the project for constructing 100 similar cities all across the country in expected technical collaboration with US, France, Singapore and Japan. Moreover, the BJP-PDP Government also candidly upheld the proposal of four Smart Cities which had been sent to the Centre.
Surprisingly, UP had walked away with maximum share of 13 followed by Tamil Nadu 12, Maharashtra 10, Madhya Pradesh 7, Gujarat 6, and so on with Jammu & Kashmir failing to find any mention. Harshdev decried that neglect of J&K State in the matter of Smart Cities was the greatest injustice and deprivation as the approved Smart Cities would be developed at a cost Rs 960 crore each and fully equipped with IT enabled services empowering modern public transport system, crime control procedure, emergency and health services, single window system for trade and commerce besides having round the clock water and power supply with world class roads and telecom services.
He said that while Kavaratti city in Lakshadweep with a population of barely 12,210 souls, Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh with a population of 26,656 souls and Dharmshala in HP with a population of barely 22,580 souls had been approved for Smart Cities, the J&K State with a population of 1.30 crore had been totally ignored.
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