Mangaluru: In what comes as a bad news to Mangalureans, the city has not made it to the list of top 20 smart cities that will be developed in the first phase.
The cities chosen are Bhubaneswar, Pune, Jaipur, Surat, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Jabalput, Visakhapatnam, Solapur, Davanagere, Indore, the New Delhi area, Coimbatore, Kakinada, Belagavi, Udaipur, Guwahati, Chennai, Ludhiana and Bhopal.
Mangaluru was one among the six cities recommended by the Karnataka State government to the Union government to consider under its ‘Smart Cities’ scheme. The other cities recommended were Davangere, Tumakuru, Shivamogga, Belagavi and Hubballi-Dharwad.
The Union government received the list of a total 100 cities from all over the country for the scheme, out of which it selected 20 for granting funds in this financial year.
Union Minister for Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu had earlier this month informed the media in Mangaluru, that the Ministry has no role in the selection of the cities and an expert committee set up by the Ministry is looking into it.
It may be noted that Davanagere and Belagavi are the only cities chosen from Karnataka for the project.
