Srinagar, Jammu likely to get Central approval in third round
With the result the Smart City Challenge-II coming later this week, the J&K Government believes Jammu and Srinagar will make the cut in the competition.
The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Development Department will announce the result of the third round of the challenge on June 23.
“We have submitted a competitive proposal before the Central government for both Srinagar and Jammu. I believe both will qualify in the competition,” Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh told Kashmir Post. Saying these cities deserved to be developed as smart cities, Nirmal Singh added that under the Smart City Mission, the cities would get Rs 500 crore each for infrastructure.
The Smart City Mission — aimed at improving the basic urban infrastructure in the cities — was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June 2015.
The project aims to make nearly 100 cities citizen-friendly with an aim of sustainable development in the country. Subsequently, the Centre allocated only one city to the state to be developed as a smart city. However, the allocation of only one smart city for J&K drew criticism from political parties. It also created differences between the ruling coalition partners — PDP and BJP. Subsequently, the state government submitted proposals for both capital cities. The setting up of smart cities is also part of the Agenda of Alliance signed by the PDP and BJP before forming the coalition government in the state.
