Maharashtra receives central grant of Rs1,378 crore: Smart Cities Mission

NEW DELHI: Under the smart city mission, 99 cities across the country, have proposed to take up projects like smart roads, rejuvenation of water bodies, walking paths, smart classrooms, skill development centers, up gradation of health facilities, and a clean and sustainable environment.

The Centre has released nearly Rs 9,940 crore for 99 cities with Maharashtra accounting for the highest amount of Rs 1,378 crore, followed by Madhya Pradesh which received Rs 984 crore, according to the Union urban development department.The total proposed investment in these cities was Rs 2.03 lakh crore.

Gujarat, with six cities, got Rs 509 crore. Karnataka, with seven cities, got Rs 836 crore.Andhra Pradesh, four cities were selected, received Rs 588 crore, while Uttar Pradesh, with 10 cities, received Rs 547 crore. Tamil Nadu, with the highest of 11 cities selected for the mission, has received Rs 848 crore and Rajasthan, with four cities received Rs 784 crore, according to data.The Centre released Rs 8 crore to West Bengal, whose New Town was selected for the mission in May 2016. However, the state government had already announced that it would not participate in the Smart City Mission.

On January 17, Hardeep Singh Puri said that there were 2,948 projects worth Rs 1.38 lakh crore in various stages of implementation, while 189 projects worth Rs 2,237 crore had been completed.

The purpose of the Smart Cities Mission is to drive economic growth and improve the quality of life of people by enabling local area development and harnessing technology, especially technology that leads to Smart outcomes.

Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Kerala and Tripura have received around Rs 200 crore so far and Manipur, Nagaland and Sikkim got around Rs 100 crore.