Modi govt to announce next list of smart cities today

The Centre will announce the next set of cities for financing under the Modi government's flagship Smart City Mission today.

According to the Mission guidelines, as many as 40 cities have to be announced during this financial year. With the government having already announced names of 13 cities in May, slots for 27 cities remain vacant against which the announcement would be made by Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu today.

Facilities on Offer

In January, the government had announced a list of 20 cities for partial funding to be developed as smart cities, which would have facilities such as assured water and power supply, sanitation and solid waste management systems, efficient urban mobility and public transportation, IT connectivity and e-governance, among others.

Each city will receive Central assistance of Rs 200 crore in the first year and Rs 100 crore over three subsequent financial years.

State governments and respective urban local bodies will also match the Centre's contribution.

The Modi government aims to transform about 100 cities by 2019-20, with the Centre providing financial support of Rs 48,000 crore over five years.

4 Up Cities to Get Included

With the Centre playing the development card in the run-up to Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh next year, four cities out of Agra, Aligarh, Kanpur, Varanasi, Allahabad and Jhansi might feature in the list, according to sources. So far, only Lucknow has been selected in the first set of smart cities.

Newsletter

Prime Minister Modi inaugurates Atal Tunnel - longest tunnel above 10000 ft

Ladakh: The Prime Minister today inaugurated the Atal Tunnel and took the inaugural drive through in the 9km long tunnel...

Orissa High Court Order regarding migrant workers entry into Orissa put on hold by the Supreme Court

The Orissa High Court order to permit the entry of migrant workers only if they tested Negative for COVID-19 was put on...

Coronavirus Lockdown - First Flights To Bring Back Indians Stranded Abroad Land In Kerala

On Monday, the central government announced plans to begin a massive repatriation of its citizens stranded abroad, dubbe...

Reacting to Trump's retaliation threat India allows Hydroxychloroquine export

In a move after Trump's threat to retaliate if India fails to send medicines, India has lifted ban of export of ess...

All Domestic Passenger Flights Suspended from Midnight Tomorrow

The operations of all domestic schedule commercial airlines will stop operations from 23.59pm on March 24, a government...

Iran says it ‘unintentionally’ shot down Ukrainian plane, blames ‘human error’

Iran had denied for several days that a missile downed the aircraft. But then the US and Canada, citing intelligence, sa...