27 New Cities Selected Under Center’s Smart Cities Mission

Five cities in election-bound Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency of Varanasi, have made it to the Governments third list of 'Smart Cities' that will get funding for initiating urban reforms. Agra, Kanpur, and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh and Amritsar and Jalandhar in Punjab are among the 27 cities selected under the Smart Cities Mission, which will get Rs. 200 crore for developing their infrastructure. With the 27 cities announced on September 20, the total number of Smart Cities chosen rises to 60.

Maharashtra topped the list with five cities; Karnataka and Tamil Nadu were second with four cities each, pursued by Uttar Pradesh with three cities. The other cities are from 12 states and have projected to invest a total of. Rs 66,883 crore under their various Smart City plans. The amount includes Rs. 42,524 crore in area-based. 11,379 development (79% of the total) and Rs crore (21%) in technology-based pan-city solutions.

The third list was disclosed after the latest round of the Smart City Challenge competition. Amritsar topped the list, while Vadodara in Gujarat finished in the last place. "Competition-based election has made the cities recover themselves as they are undertaking a thorough evaluation of gaps in the present levels of service delivery and infrastructure and come out with inclusive, actionable plans and credible for area-based development and technology-based pan-city solutions," urban development minister M Venkaiah Naidu said. 

Under the Smart Cities provision, the government comes up with to develop 100 cities as Smart Cities over the upcoming three years. Naidu said the selection process for the remaining 40 cities would start in January. "With the third batch of cities, the Smart City implementation is now spread to 27 states and Union Territories nine states and UTs. Still to join this ‘SMART CITY' club are Jammu & Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Puducherry, Lakshadweep, Daman, Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, " . The initiative smart city will surely affect the price of property in India.