Taskmaster

Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister of State, Independent Charge, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, has upped the ante for the Smart City mission by announcing nine more cities to be developed under the government's initiative. This has taken the total number to 99. The nine cities chosen in the fourth round are Bareilly, Moradabad and Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh; Erode in Tamil Nadu; Bihar Sharif in Bihar; Silvasa in Dadra and Nagar Haveli; Diu in Daman and Diu; Kavarati in Lakshadweep; and Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh. The nine cities selected have proposed an investment of Rs 12,824 crore, impacting 35.3 lakh persons living in these areas. These cities have proposed to take up various projects, including 'smart' roads, rejuvenation of water bodies, cycle tracks, walking paths, smart classrooms, skill development centres, upgradation of health facilities and pan-city projects like integrated command and control centre. With these having proposed 409 projects, which would get around 61 per cent funding from the Centre and the state, Puri is leading the country to a smarter way forward.