NEW DELHI: There was disgruntlement after Shillong did not appear on the final list of smart cities that was announced earlier this year. But the fact is that the state government did not submit any proposal for the central scheme “for elections” though the selection process started long ago, said Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Puri on Thursday.
Speaking to reporters here, Puri said the Centre had announced the final list of nine smart cities in January and had kept the slot for the tenth city, Shillong, vacant as the state government could not submit its proposal on time.
The hill city was selected in the fourth round.
“That one slot has been kept vacant for Shillong. There was a certain deliberate decision taken that they submit a proposal that was delayed because they are busy with election. But after the election, we expect a proposal to come from them,” Puri said. Till date, 99 cities have been selected under the NDA government’s flagship programme, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June 2015. Among the states, West Bengal has chosen not to participate in the competition.
“In the past, Tamil Nadu had its smart city proposals delayed on account of a leadership crisis, yet the slots were kept vacant and submitted by them subsequently. Similarly, it is likely that Shillong would submit its proposal as soon as the election is completed,” said Pratap Padode, founder and director of the Smart Cities Council of India.
The Meghalaya government had urged the Centre to change the funding ratio in the smart city scheme to 90:10 from 50:50 as the cash-strapped state would not be able to bear the burden of 50 per cent cost. However, last November, State Urban Affairs Minister Ronnie Lyngdoh had said the government did not receive any positive response from the Centre.
Under the smart city mission, the Centre allocates Rs 500 crore to each of the cities for implementing projects proposed by it. This amount is matched with a grant of the same amount by the respective state. As per the project, a minimum of Rs 1,500 crore is estimated to improve the sewerage system, drainage and waste management, among others.
The minister had also said the state government would have “no other option but to implement the project by itself by availing of funds from various sources”.
Earlier during the visit of former Union urban development minister Venkaiah Naidu it was indicated that Shillong was shortlisted for the project in the fourth and final list, which would be announced shortly.
Naidu had asked the state government to submit its bid after which the Centre would consider what relaxation could be given to Meghalaya.
The nine cities that made it to the final smart cities list in January are Bareilly, Moradabad and Saharanpur from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar Sharif (Bihar), Erode (Tamil Nadu), Silvassa (Dadra and Nagar Haveli), Daman and Diu, Itanagar (Arunachal Pradesh) and Kavaratti (Lakshadweep).
As on January, 189 projects worth Rs 2,237 crore have been completed while another 2,948 projects worth Rs 1.38 lakh crore are in various stages of implementation.
