Smart Cities Mission needs to adopt sustainability, urban local bodies

The concept of "Smart Cities" is based on the principle of harnessing data-based smart solutions to enhance ease of living for its residents

As the deadline for the Smart Cities Mission (SCM) ended on March 31, its success and limitations in solving urban challenges and enabling efficient city management deserve greater attention. According to an analysis by this newspaper, so far, only 18 of the 100 selected cities have completed all projects to date, with 50 per cent of them in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. In most cases, projects under the SCM involved cities scrambling to fix crumbling infrastructure rather than achieving a futuristic overhaul. Recent World Bank estimates suggest India needs to invest around ₹70 trillion in urban infrastructure over the