Union urban development minister M Venkaiah Naidu on 23 June, announced the names of 30 more cities included under the smart city mission, the total number reaching to 90 cities.
According to the data, 45 cites had contested for the smart city slot, from which 40 cities were to be selected. But as Bengal and Maharashtra did not compete and few cities who had registered did not meet the basic criteria for the contender, so the number dropped down to only 30 cities being selected. Another reason for selecting only 30 cities was to ensure feasible and workable plans and reach the expectations of the people.
While Jammu, Srinagar, Thiruvanathapuram, Dehradun, Naya Raipur were able to make it to the list, Raebareli, Meerut, Ghaziabad were not selected.
The selected cites has proposed to invest Rs 57,393 crore under respective smart city plans, working on affordable housing projects, school and hospital projects and redesign and redevelopment of roads.