Barring TN, J&K, all states, UTs meet Smart City plan deadline

 NEW DELHI: Barring Tamil Nadu and Jammu and Kashmir, all the other 34 states and Union Territories have submitted 85 Smart City proposals with an approximate investment of Rs 2 lakh crore in the next five years. While Telengana wants to replace Hyderabad with Karim Nagar, Uttar Pradesh has submitted proposal for only 12 cities and is yet to take a call on whether to include Meerut or Rae Bareli.

Jammu & Kashmir is demanding inclusion of two cities against only one and that's it has also not sent the proposal so far. Tamil Nadu has sought extra time, having been grappling with devastating floods till a few days ago, which made the state missed the Tuesday deadline.

"The evaluation of each proposal will take some time and we expect Tamil Nadu to send the proposal soon," said a ministry official.

The government has announced to build 100 smart cities. In addition, to ensure that the other cities are not left behind, the UD ministry has already approved Rs 19,000 crore city-level action plans for improving basic urban infrastructure in 474 cities in 18 states and UTs under Atal Mission for Urban Rejuvenation and Transformation (AMRUT) for the current financial year. About 90% of this expenditure will be on improving water supply and sewerage infrastructure followed by storm water drains, non-motorized urban transport and provision of green spaces and parks. Central assistance for this scheme outlay is at least Rs 9,000 crore.

The Centre will now choose the first 20 proposals forwarded by urban local bodies to get assistance starting this financial year after assessing their plans, capability and financing frameworks. Another 40 each will be selected in the next two years.

"The focus of this entire exercise is to ensure that all the shortlisted cities submitted their proposal. So, the ministry organized three smart city consultation workshops, one smart city ideas camp, five rounds of webinars and one proposal enhancement workshop to enable them to prepare proposals as per guidelines," a UD ministry spokesperson said.