Govt considering follow-up scheme to AMRUT to cover all urban areas: Puri

The Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) covers only about 60 per cent of the urban population and the government is actively considering a follow up scheme which will cover 100 per cent of the urban areas, Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said Thursday.

The AMRUT scheme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June 2015 to establish an infrastructure that would ensure robust sewage networks and water supply for urban transformation.

Responding to a question in Lok Sabha, Puri said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget statement had talked about a follow up to the AMRUT scheme.

The AMRUT scheme only covers 60 per cent plus of India's urban population and the government is actively considering a follow up scheme which will cover 100 per cent of the urban areas, the minister said amid continuous protests by Opposition members over the Pegasus spying row and farmers' issue.

To a question on the number of ongoing projects under Smart Cities Mission in Karnataka, Puri said the smart city programme is a unique programme that has been implemented in the country for the first time.

It was conceived soon after the Modi government took office in May 2014 and it was announced in June 2015, he pointed out.

"The idea was to use technology in order to introduce ease of living and inclusive and sustainable development. The process of selecting the 100 smart cities was not a selection process ordained by the central government. In fact, a system of competitive bidding was announced and all cities that wished to compete for inclusion in the smart cities project were invited to submit specific proposals which they would implement over a five-year period," Puri said.

Will there be a follow up to the 100 smart cities that is something we will need to see, he added.