Smart Cities Mission: 30 more cities announced, Trivandrum and Bengaluru included

Marking the second anniversary of the Smart Cities Mission, Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu announced 30 new cities which are to be included in the list, taking the total to 90. The minister mentioned that the budget allocated for this project is Rs 57,393 crore.

Topped by Kerala's capital Thiruvananthapuram, the list includes Naya Raipur, Chhattisgarh; Rajkot, Gujarat; Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh; Patna, Bihar; Karimnagar, Telangana; Muzaffarpur, Bihar; Puducherry (Pondicherry); Gandhinagar, Gujarat; Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir; Sagar, Madhya Pradesh; Karnal, Haryana; Satna, Madhya Pradesh; Bengaluru, Karnataka; Shimla, Himachal Pradesh; Dehradun, Uttarakhand; Tirupur, Tamil Nadu; Pimpri -Chinchwad, Maharashtra; Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh; Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh; Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir; Dahod, Gujarat; Tirunelveli, Thootukkudi, and Tiruchirappalli,Tamil Nadu; Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh; Aizawl, Mizoram; Allahabad and Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh; and Gangtok, Sikkim.

Of these 30 cities, there are proposals for affordable housing projects in 26 cities, proposals for new schools and hospitals in 26 of them, and redesigning and road development proposals in 29 cities. Initially, 100 cities were considered for inclusion in the list of smart cities. However, 20 cities are to compete with each other to make it to the remaining 10 spots. The 20 cities include Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh; Bihar Sharif, Bihar; Diu, Daman & Diu; Silvassa, Dadra and Nagar Haveli; Kavaratti, Lakshadweep; Navi Mumbai, Greater Mumbai, and Amravati, Maharashtra; Imphal, Manipur; Shillong, Meghalaya; Dindigul and Erode, Tamil Nadu; Bidhannagar, Durgapur, and Haldia, West Bengal; and Meerut, Raebareli, Ghaziabad, Saharanpur, and Rampur, Uttar Pradesh.

Do you have an interesting story to share? Please write to us at [email protected]. To stay updated with more positive news, please connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.