Union Government announced 13 cities as Smart Cities

Urban Development Ministry announced 13 cities as Smart Cities where highly advanced in terms of overall infrastructure, sustainable real estate, communications and market viability

Ministry: Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation

Name of the Cities

Venkaiah Naidu conferred that seven more capital cities will be entered to the smart city competition.The above 13 cities are announced as Smart Cities.

• They are Patna, Shimla, Naya Raipur, Itanagar, Amaravati, Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram.
• Twenty-three cities, with the highest ranking from as many States and Union Terrritories, which failed to get representation in the first round of competition.
• The ‘Fast Track Competition’ from which these 13 were selected.

23 cities competed for the Fast Track Competition:

Warangal (Telangana); Lucknow, New Town Kolkata, Panaji, Pasighat (Arunachal Pradesh), Dharmashala (Himachal Pradesh), Faridabad (Haryana), Raipur (Chattisgarh), Bhagalpur (Bihar), Shillong (Meghalaya), Namchi (Sikkim), Port Blair (Andaman & Nicobar Islands), Diu (Daman & Diu), Oulgaret (Puducherry), Silvassa (Dadra & Nagar Haveli), Imphal (Manipur), Ranchi (Jharkhand), Agartala (Tripura), Kohima (Nagaland), Aizawl (Mizoram), Kavaratti (Lakshadweep), Dehradun (Uttarakhand) and Chandigarh.

Smart City

• A ‘Smart City’ is an urban region that is highly advanced in terms of overall infrastructure, sustainable real estate, communications and market viability.
•  It is a city where information technology is the principal infrastructure and the basis for providing essential services to residents.

Main features in a smart city:

• Adequate water supply
• Assured electricity supply
• Sanitation, including solid waste management
• Efficient urban mobility and public transport
• Affordable housing, especially for the poor
• Robust IT connectivity and digitalization
• Good governance, especially e-Governance and citizen participation
• Sustainable environment
• Safety and security of citizens, particularly women, children and the elderly
• Health and education