The list of 20 smart cities out of the 98 shortlisted for the Smart Cities Mission has been released by the Central government. These 20 cities will be the first to receive funds, thus starting the process of developing them into smart cities.
The cities are Bhubaneswar, Pune, Jaipur, Surat, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh), Visakhapatnam, Solapur (Maharashtra), Davanagere (Karnataka), Indore, New Delhi Municipal Council (Delhi), Coimbatore, Kakinada (Andhra Pradesh), Belagavi (Karnataka), Udaipur, Guwahati, Chennai, Ludhiana and Bhopal.
According to the documents released on the Smart Cities website, the core infrastructure in a smart city would include: Adequate water supply, uninterrupted electricity supply, Sanitation, including solid waste management, Efficient urban mobility and public transport, Affordable housing, especially for the poor, Robust IT connectivity and digitalization, e-Governance and citizen participation, Sustainable environment, Security of citizens, particularly women, children and the elderly, Health and education.
Union Minister for Urban Development Venkaiah Naidu said, “In the approach of the Smart Cities Mission, the objective is to promote cities that provide core infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to its citizens, a clean and sustainable environment and application of ‘Smart’ Solutions.
The next two years will see 78 cities brought under the ambit of the project.
