Hubbali-Dharwad, Managaluru, Shivamogga & Tumkaru from Karnataka
Mangaluru, Sep 20 (HT): Mangaluru has appeared in the list of Smart Cities announced by the Union government on Tuesday, September 20.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi along with Kanpur and Agra are among the 27 urban centres, picked on Tuesday to be developed as smart cities, under the NDA government’s ambitious plan for an urban overhaul.
The three cities are from the Samajwadi Party-ruled Uttar Pradesh that goes to polls next year.
Two other cities from poll bound Punjab --- Amritsar and Ludhiana – also made it to the third list announced by Union urban development minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday. Shiromani Akali Dal, an NDA ally is in power in Punjab.
India plans to have 100 such cities by 2022. Sixty have been chosen, including 20 in January and 13 in May, the remaining will be picked by 2018. Meant to change the way urban India lives, smart cities will enjoy uninterrupted power and water supplies, internet connectivity, e-governance along with quality infrastructure.
While no city from West Bengal and Bihar found mention in the third list, BJP ruled states are the biggest beneficiaries. Of the 27, ten cities are from states where the ruling party is in power. This includes Maharashtra (Thane, Nashik, Nagpur, Kalyan Dombivali and Aurangabad), Madhya Pradesh (Gwalior and Ujjain), Rajasthan (Kota and Ajmer) and Gujarat (Vadodara).
Some of the opposition ruled states have complained that the Centre’s urban modernization plan promoted “regional inequality.” West Bengal, which got one city – New Town – selected in the second list has already announced its decision to walk out of the smart city programme. When the first list of 20 cities was selected in January, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar had said the list was tilted heavily in favour of the NDA-ruled states.
To succeed, citizens must have more say in the Smart Cities Mission. Just a small percentage of population to benefit from Smart Cities Mission.
Only four cities – Hubbali-Dharwad, Managaluru, Shivamogga and Tumkaru – are from Congress ruled Karnataka. While Rourkela was the lone city from BJD ruled Odisha that made the cut, AIADMK ruled Tamil Nadu got four cities – Madurai, Salem, Thanjavur and Vellore.
Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh, where NDA ally Telugu Desam Party is in power, also made it to the third list. So did two other states ruled by NDA allies -- Sikkim (Namchi) and Nagaland (Kohima).
The total investment in 27 cities that will be developed as “smart” is envisaged at about Rs 66,883 crore.
Smart cities are picked though a two-stage process. In the first stage, a state shortlists potential cities and send the names to the Centre. In the second round, these nominated cities compete with each other.
The Centre will give Rs 48,000 crore for five years for the programme. Each city will get Rs 100 crore per year. A matching fund of Rs 48,000 crore will have to be contributed by states from their internal resources/ market borrowing and through private sector.
Stalemate over J&K, UP cities
The Centre has decided to allow both Jammu and Srinagar from the border state and Meerut and Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh to make a pitch for the tag. But, the ministry has made it clear that only one city will be picked from each of these states. The two states are yet to take a final call.