10 cities from Maharashtra to be developed as smart cities

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday announced that Mumbai, Thane and Kalyan-Dombivali are among the ten cities from Maharashtra selected for development as smart cities.Making an announcement in the state assembly, Fadnavis said that the state cabinet has given approval to the implementation of smart cities campaign in the state. The other seven cities selected are Pune along with Pimpri-Chinchwad, Nashik, Amravati, Solapur, Nashik, Nagpur, and Aurangabad.A high-powered committee set up under the chairmanship of chief secretary has selected these ten cities after applying the parameters laid down by the Union government. The campaign would be implemented in 100 cities in the country over five years. The Union government has provided Rs48,000 crore for the project. It provides every city Rs100 crore per year; the same amount is to be raised together by the local bodies and the state governments.A special purpose vehicle would be set up for the implementation of this initiative, Fadnavis said. He said that a smart city advisory forum would also be established. The committee under the chief secretary would monitor the work of this initiative and urban development (2) secretary would work as the state smart cities campaign director.The campaign aims at speedy development of cities to keep pace with rising urbanization, increasing the quality of life in urban areas, developing new cities near the existing cities, providing housing to all the citizens, reducing the air pollution and reducing the crowding in the cities.