The PM was addressing a function at Balewadi sports complex here, after inaugurating the flagship Smart City Mission into implementation mode with the launch of 14 projects of Pune's Smart City Plan, a year after he set off the programme by releasing its guidelines.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday took a swipe at the judiciary's directive to shift cricket matches out of Maharashtra, saying media stretches things so far these days that one cannot even play cricket and once a cricket match was cancelled the country believes watering of cricket fields has been stopped.
The PM was addressing a function at Balewadi sports complex here, after inaugurating the flagship Smart City Mission into implementation mode with the launch of 14 projects of Pune's Smart City Plan, a year after he set off the programme by releasing its guidelines.
Without mentioning the high court, he said, "Now you cannot play even cricket, since media takes an issue to such a level that when it is known that a cricket ground needs watering all 365 days, after the cricket matches were cancelled, entire country believed that the watering of the wicket has been stopped. Dhanya ho! (Great!) But in the process Maharashtra had to bear huge losses."
Making a strong pitch to consider urbanisation as an opportunity to mitigate poverty and not as a problem, Modi said cities have to be strengthened through comprehensive and inter-connected approach combined with increased public participation.
"There was a time in our country when urbanisation was considered a big problem. But, I feel differently. We should not consider urbanisation as a problem, but consider it as an opportunity," he said.
Stressing that the spirit of participative governance is vital, the PM said people of the cities have to decide about the development of their urban spaces as these decisions cannot be taken by people sitting in Delhi. He also expressed satisfaction over the enthusiastic and large-scale participation of people in formulation of comprehensive smart city plans and the way the contest for selection of cities was held.
The PM also launched 'Make Your City Smart' contest inviting people to come out with designs for street, junctions and open spaces and a 'Smart Net Portal' which is a net-based platform for sharing of ideas and sourcing of solutions for smart city development.
Chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Rajasthan briefed Modi via videoconferencing on the cities in the respective states selected for development under the project.
Maharashtra governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, and union ministers Venkaiah Naidu, Babul Supriyo and Prakash Javadekar were present on the occasion.
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