New Delhi, June 23 (IANS): The central government on Friday announced a new list of 30 cities to be developed into 'smart cities', with Thiruvananthapuram topping the list.
The latest list -- including 12 state capitals - takes the number of cities chosen to 90 under the Smart City Mission.
In the list, the Kerala capital is followed by Chhattisgarh's new capital Naya Raipur.
The winter and summer capitals of Jammu and Kashmir, Jammu and Srinagar, also feature among the chosen names.
The other state capitals are Amaravati (Andhra Pradesh), Patna (Bihar), Bengaluru (Karnataka), Shimla (Himachal Pradesh), Dehradun (Uttarakhand), Aizawl (Mizoram), Gangtok (Sikkim) and Gandhinagar (Gujarat).
"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 here.
The central government had launched the Smart City Mission on June 25, 2015 to develop 100 smart cities in a period of five years.