Jammu, Karnal, Shimla, Srinagar make the cut
Among 30 cities shortlisted by the Centre are Dehradun, Gandhinagar, Patna, Allahabad, Jhansi and Bengaluru
We will get the first instalment of ₹200 crore within a month and total ₹1,295 crore will be spent by the Union government to develop Karnal as a smart city. ADITYA DHAIYA , Karnal MC commissioner
n letterschd@hindustantimes.com
JAMMU/KARNAL/SHIMLA: The list of last set of cities to be made smart under its flagship 100 Smart City scheme was released on Friday. From this region, Jammu and Srinagar from Jammu and Kashmir, Shimla from Himachal Pradesh and Karnal from Haryana got their names mentioned in the list.
“A total of 45 cities contested for 40 available smart city slots but only 30 were selected to ensure feasible and workable plans that match the aspirations of the citizens as directed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” urban development and housing minister M Venkaiah Naidu said while announcing the new batch of smart cities at a National Workshop on Urban Transformation in New Delhi.
JAMMU JUMPS IN JOY
However, even as the Centre named Jammu in the third list of smart cities among a total of 110 such cities, the city of temples with a population of over seven lakh, needs a real impetus in infrastructural development projects.
Jammu municipal corporation commissioner M Raju said, “Inclusion of Jammu city in the list of smart cities is indeed the happiest moment, not only for the officials, but every local.”
Jammu shall now get the funding of ₹3,500 crore for the same.
KUDOS KARNAL
Meanwhile, one-and-a-half months after Karnal was declared the cleanest city of Haryana, chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s home constituency saw its mention in the list as well.
Having failed the test twice, this was the third attempt by the Karnal municipal corporation that submitted its proposal to include Karnal into the list of smart cities.
Sources in the Karnal municipal corporation said that this time the state government was showing interest to make Karnal a smart city for which a private company — Credit Rating Information Services of India Limited (CRISIL) — had been hired to prepare a proposal for Karnal’s claim.
The agency reportedly charged ₹30 lakh for its consultancy services.
As per reports, CRISIL started working on the project on January 1 and conducted a complete survey of the city to find out shortcomings and hurdles and a ₹1200-crore proposal was prepared for the Karnal city project.
“We will get the first instalment of ₹200 crore within a month and total ₹1,295 crore will be spent by the Union government to develop Karnal as a smart city,” Karnal MC commissioner Aditya Dhaiya said.
‘SMART’ QUEEN OF HILLS
fter failing to get mentioned in first two lists, Shimla was also listed in the charter of the smart city.
In the second List, Shimla lost to Dharamshala following the war of words between Congress and BJP blaming each other for the exclusion of capital town from the list.
Earlier, the state panel had approved and submitted ₹2,906crore plan to the Centre with Shimla municipal corporation taking feedback of around 1 lakh people, who sought a solution to public transport issues.
“It is our gift to the people of Shimla,” said Shimla’s former deputy mayor Tikender Singh Panwar.
Chief minister Virbhadra Singh said added priority will be given to develop eco-tourism, adventure-sports activities and alternative modes of transportation.
Urban development minister Sudhir Sharma said out of the total proposal, ₹1,252 crore was for re-development of Lower Bazar, Sabzi Mandi, Ganj and Krishnanagar; ₹1,280 crore for retrofitting of circular road and three transit corridors of the city; ₹197 crore for planned-city application of traffic management and citizen security.