Smart City Mission on target to meet June deadline

The next year is likely to see the completion of the Centre's urban flagship Smart City Mission, aimed at ensuring that people have access to basic infrastructure, a clean and sustainable environment, and a decent quality of life through the application of smart solutions. The government launched the Smart Cities Mission (SCM) on June 25, 2015, and 100 Smart City targets were selected through four rounds of competition from January 2016 to June 2018. Uttar Pradesh tops the list with 13 smart cities, followed by Tamil Nadu with 12 and Maharashtra with 10. The period of completion of the SCM has been extended up to June 2023 and all Smart Cities are expected to complete their projects within this time. Government data disclosed that nearly 88% of the funds given by the Centre for Smart City projects has been used. According to the Urban Affairs Ministry, as on December 2, 2022, the government has released Rs 346.75 billion, of which Rs 304.18 billion has been used. Work orders have been issued in 7,738 projects worth Rs 1.8 trillion, of which 4,987 projects worth Rs 924.39 billion have been completed. Integrated Control and Command Centres, (ICCCs) a key element of Smart Cities, have become operational in a number of cities, including Ahmedabad, Kakinada, Visakhapatnam, Nagpur, Pune, Rajkot, Surat, Vadodara, and Bhopal, among several others. See also: This city has been in the top 15 in Global Mayors’ ChallengeSmart cities Jammu and Srinagar undergoing massive transformations