Preneet rues exclusion of Patiala from 'Smart City' project

Patiala MLA and former MoS Preneet Kaur today regretted the Centre's decision for leaving out Patiala from the Smart City plan.
"Patiala is known world over for its rich cultural heritage. It is a prominent town of the Malwa region that has emerged as educational hub besides being an important centre for trade and commerce," she said.
She said that she failed to find reason why Patiala has not been included in the list of the cities to be developed as as 'Smart City'.
She said that it was during her term she got Patiala listed as a Counter Magnet Area (CMA) to the National Capital Region and got funds for its development from the Delhi Development Board.

CMAs are urban areas located sufficiently away from NCR with its known established roots and inherent potentials to function as viable independent growth foci so that people don't migrate to NCR.
"It was during Congress Government at the Centre that Patiala got two major projects: first was the Diesel Loco Modernisation Workshop and the second was the North Zone Cultural Centre," she recalled.
"We did not expect a favourable recommendation from the Akali Government because of their narrow thinking," she remarked and said that Central government should not have taken a "step-motherly view".