States approve Smart City plan for 86 cities

With the last date for submission of Smart City Proposals (SCPs) to Union government being December 15, it is learnt that 86 such proposals are expected to be received within the stipulated time.
Urban Development Ministry officials who are monitoring the progress in respect of the proposals said 17 states and Union Territories have already approved smart city plans for 30 cities and another 11 states and UTs would have done so today for another 50 potential smart cities.
Headed by chief secretary, High Powered Steering Committee (HPSC) constituted in each state and UT is required to approve the proposal of cities for inclusion in the Smart City project, before sending them to the UD Ministry.

According to SCP, each potential city has to formulate its own concept, vision, mission and plan (proposal) for a smart city that is appropriate to its local context, resources and levels of ambitions.
HPSCs in 17 states and UTs have already approved 30 SCPs including that of Visakhapatnam, Chandigarh, Guwahati, Panaji, Dharmashala, Faridabad, Amritsar, Hyderabad and New Town Kolkata.
HPSC meetings in 11 states and UTs were scheduled today to approve SCPs for 50 cities including New Delhi Municipal Council, Ahmedabad, Mangalore, Lucknow, Ranchi and Navi Mumbai.

HPSC meetings in Uttarakhand and Mizoram will take place tomorrow while they will be held on December 14 in Odisha, Chattisgarh and Meghalaya.

Only in case of Tamil Nadu, the HPSC meeting could not be scheduled on account of severe flooding in Chennai due to heavy rains. Tamil Naidu accounts for 12 smart cities.
UD Ministry official said that necessary arrangements have been made for receipt of SCPs which are expected to be physically submitted on Monday and Tuesday next week.