Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Jan 29: The state government will urge the Centre to cover five cities in the state under the 100 Smart Cities plan during a two-day consultation workshop scheduled to be begin in New Delhi Friday.
The Union housing and urban poverty alleviation ministry has asked the concerned officials of the states to make a brief presentation on the cities they want included under the scheme, an official of housing and urban development department said.
“We have asked the commissioners of all five municipal corporations in the state to attend the meeting and make presentations of their cities,” the official added. The Centre has given detailed guidelines of the scheme and the commissioners were asked to make the presentations as per the guidelines. After examining the presentations, the Union ministry will take the final call on the cities that would be included under the smart city plan, the official added. Earlier, the state government had submitted a proposal to the Centre seeking to cover five cities – Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Rourkela, Sambalpur and Berhampur – under the smart city scheme.
Union finance minister Arun Jaitley had made an allocation of `7,060 crore for the scheme in the Budget. Smart cities would be habitable urban spaces with eco-friendly provisions apart from being technologically-integrated and meticulously-planned with the use of information technology.
