Smart cities: Agra, Kashi, Saharanpur bag awards
LUCKNOW/VARANASI: Uttar Pradesh bagged several awards under the ‘India Smart City Project’ with Agra being ranked first and Varanasi third among 100 cities.
Varanasi smart city project separately bagged three other awards, Agra two and Saharanpur one.
Agra bagged third spot in the economy project award and the second spot in construction and management of micro skill development centers. The awards were given in Surat by Union urban development minister Hardeep Singh Puri.
Similarly, Varanasi bagged first prize in water project award (eco restoration category) for environmental revival of the Assi river. In Smart Cities Leadership Award, Varanasi Smart Cities was ranked second. Varanasi also bagged the innovative idea award in the Covid innovation category. Saharanpur bagged the first prize in this category.
Ten UP cities were selected in
different rounds of Smart City Mission. Lucknow made it in the first round while Kanpur, Agra, Varanasi made it in the second round, Prayagraj, Aligarh and Jhansi featured in the third round and Bareilly, Saharanpur and Moradabad were picked in fourth round. In these cities, 538 projects worth Rs 10,000 crore were shortlisted under the Smart City Mission Fund.
Uttar Pradesh urban development minister Arvind Kumar
Sharma praised several UP cities featuring in the awards and hoped more cities would be added to the list in subsequent rounds.
“We have lived up to the expectations of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Yogi Adityanath and now we will better our performance,” he said.
“It was a matter of great pride that Varanasi Smart City has been given awards in four different categories in the India
Smart City Award contest,” said municipal commissioner/chief executive officer, Varanasi Smart City, Pranay Singh who received the award at the ceremony.
“Smart City Leadership Award” also went to Varanasi Smart City for its efficient functioning and proper implementation of projects.
Chief general manager, Varanasi Smart City, Dr D Vasudevan said it was an award for all Kashi.