Opposition alleges that Fadnavis has included those cities in the smart city project that are going for municipal election in 2017.
The Maharashtra government has taken a decision to develop cities like Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Solapur, Nashik, Amravati and Nagpur into smart cities with an eye on the municipal elections scheduled to be held in these cities in 2017. The Kalyan-Dombivali civic elections are just round the corner. The opposition have already alleged that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has played a tactical game by including these cities in the smart city project. Thus the Fadnavis government is leaving no stone unturned to grab political mileage out of this project.
The Union Cabinet has given its nod to NDA government’s flagship 100 smart cities project and the new urban renewal mission with a total outlay of about Rs one lakh crore. While Rs 48,000 crore has been earmarked for 100 smart cities, Rs 50,000 crore are marked for the AMRUT scheme for 500 cities. The state government will send the list of cities to be included in the smart city project and the centre will take a final decision in this regard.
“A high-power committee has selected Navi Mumbai, Pune-Pimpri Chinchwad, Nashik, Thane, Mumbai, Amravati, Solapur, Nagpur, Kalyan-Dombivli and Aurangabad,” said CM Devendra Fadnavis in the legislative assembly.
The erstwhile UPA government had tried to consolidate its foothold in the state by implementing Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission in cities like Mumbai, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad and Thane. Thus the BJP too is following the footsteps of its predecessor by announcing the smart city project. After the strong performance in the assembly election the saffron is aiming to improve its position across the municipal corporations of the state. The Shiv Sena dominates the Mumbai and Thane municipal corporations while Nashik is controlled by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad are NCP’s bastions while Congress has a sizeable presence in Solapur and Amravati.
Maharashtra Congress chief Ashok Chavan hit out at the BJP-led state government for not including Nanded, Latur and Parbhani in the ‘smart city’ project. It smacked of political bias because the civic bodies in these cities were controlled by Congress and NCP, he alleged.
“It was expected that Nanded, Latur or Parbhani will be included in the list from Marathwada region. However, due to the political bias these cities were overlooked for smart cities,” he said.
According to Chavan, “Aurangabad is the only city which has made it to smart cities project from Marathwada. The government should have included one more city from Marathwada.” He added, “In Marathwada, we have Latur, Parbhani and Nanded. Atleast one city from these three should have been considered.”
Smart City is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet project aimed at recasting the urban landscape of the country by making cities more liveable and inclusive besides driving the economic growth. Under smart cities initiative, focus will be on core infrastructure services like adequate and clean water supply, sanitation and solid waste management, efficient urban mobility and public transportation, affordable housing for poor, power supply and robust IT connectivity. The funds received by the central government will be used for the development of these smart cities. Each selected city under the ambitious scheme would get central assistance of Rs 100 crore per year for five years.
