Amritsar receives fund worth Rs 500 crore for 'Smart City' project

The Centre on Saturday released fund worth Rs 500 crore to commence the 'Smart City' project in Amritsar.

Punjab Tourism and Cultural Affairs Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu told ANI, "We thank the Government of India who has facilitated us. I can joyfully say that the Government of India, after the Punjab Government released Rs 50 crore, has given us Rs 500 crore to start off with the project. This is like a mutual symbiosis where both benefit from each other. I think the prerogative is more from the side of Government of India, as we went there with little hope, but we have got everything."

He added it was a constancy of purpose to evolve, become better and to make Amritsar and Punjab, as a whole, self-reliant and fulfilled with infrastructure.

"The Government of India sent a team and we held comprehensive meetings to deal with the development of the Smart Cities. We will prepare a comprehensive plan of about one billion dollars and we are going to request Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to put this forward in the meeting for this year's Financial Plan," Sidhu asserted.

He further said the future of Amritsar would set an example for others that this is the way development should be done.