Smart City plans have to be submitted by 15 December, says Union Urban Development Ministry

Union Urban Development Ministry today asserted that there will be no extension of time beyond December 15, 2015 for submission of city level Smart City Plans by respective urban local bodies and states.

This was made clear by the Ministry at a meeting with Principal Secretaries of state Urban Development departments and Municipal Commissioners of some cities included in the Smart City Mission, from nine states.

The states represented at the meeting were - UP, MP, West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Nagaland.

In fact, some Municipal Commissioners raised the issue stating that they have been working hard on preparation of Smart City Plans to meet the deadline of December 15 this year, set by the UD Ministry, for submission of plans and if the Ministry would consider extension of time if such requests were received.

Today's meeting was convened to discuss with officials of states and mission cities the actions being undertaken for preparation of city level smart city plans and particularly, efforts towards ensuring citizen participation in formulating smart city vision for each mission city and action plans besides the criteria for evaluation of smart city plans, to be submitted by December 15.

Image credit: Indiatimes