People of Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan-Dombivli, Nagpur and Aurangabad can rejoice as your cities will be smarter than before. In the line of the central government’s smart city plan, the state government in Maharashtra is planning its own ‘Smart City’ project. The aim is to provide development opportunities to cities that have not been selected by the Centre under its ambitious programme.
While the project is in a nascent stage for the time being, state Urban Development Department (UDD) secretary Manisha Mhaiskar informed that the Chief Minister has given his nod for going ahead with the project.
Apart from the 5 cities mentioned above, there are ten other cities selected from the state for the Centre's 'Smart City' project.
"We had chosen 33 cities for the Smart City project. However, according to limitation of 10 cities, we had to drop other cities. The preparation of these cities was admirable and hence, the state government has decided to introduce its own 'smart city' project so that we can change the face of these cities," Mhaiskar told a news agency.
A decision on allocation of funds to develop these as smart cities under the state government's project will be taken soon and it will later be placed before the Cabinet for its approval, she said.
"The Centre, under its flagship programme, will provide Rs 100 crores to each of the ten cities selected by it so that they can prepare a plan of their own. These cities will then consult NGOs and citizens before finalising the plan of their smart city," she said.
Mhaiskar said that 80 % issues will be related to civic amenities, like providing drinking water and proper drainage system, while 20 per cent will be regarding Information Technology.
"Forty three cities from Maharashtra have been selected for AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation), another project of the Centre, in which it has given preference to provide drinking water. It is expected that water will be provided to households from the source through a metered system and chances of leakages and theft will be eliminated by the local bodies themselves," Mhaiskar added.