Dharamshala finally finds place in list of smarts cities

Dharamshala, May 24, 2016: 13 cities including Dharamshala have made it to the next round of the fast-track competition, which means that these cities can now compete to be a 'Smart City', as announced by Indian Government on Tuesday. Cites which emerged as winners are as under: arangal (Telangana), Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), Dharmashala (Himachal Pradesh), Chandigarh, Raipur (Chattisgarh), New Town Kolkata, Bhagalpur (Bihar), Panaji (Goa), Port Blair (Andaman & Nicobar Islands), Imphal (Manipur), Ranchi (Jharkhand), Agartala (Tripura) and Faridabad (Haryana).
Assured water and power supply, sanitation and solid waste management systems, efficient urban mobility and public transportation, IT connectivity, e-governance and citizen participation are some of the highlights of the smart city project.
Under the Smart City Mission, 100 cities across the country will be developed as smart cities by 2019-20 with the Union government providing financial support to the extent of Rs 48,000 crore over five years.
While 20 smart cities were selected during 2015-16 as per the Mission guidelines, another 40 would be selected during 2016-17 and the remaining 40 during the next financial year. Only 12 states and UTs were represented in the first list of 20 mission cities announced in 'Smart City Challenge Competition' on January 28.
The 20 cities selected in January were Bhubaneswar, Pune, Jaipur, Surat, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Jabalpur, Visakhapatnam, Solapur, Davangere, Indore, the New Delhi area, Coimbatore, Kakinada, Belgaum, Udaipur, Guwahati, Chennai, Ludhiana and Bhopal.
The high circles in Himachal said that Dharamshala finally finds the place in the group of 33 smarts cities of India, which are to be developed in first phase. The city was under fire as people of the state opposed its inclusion in the list of smart cities, and wanted Shimla in its place. As the matter went to the court in Shimla, Dharamshala lost the birth in the first set of 20 smart cities of India, announced early this year, later the matter solved.
Urban development minister of Himachal Sudhir Sharma said on Tuesday, “I am over exited that Dharamshala got a place in the second batch of smart cities.” He congratulated the people of Himachal. He further said that Shimla too has been included in the list of 100 smart cities of India.