T P Venu
In the latest smart city mission rankings, Jharkhand and Rajasthan grabbed the top two places for speedy implementation and utilisation of funds. Jharkhand has taken the top position and Rajasthan came second in Centre’s Smart City Mission rankings.
Rajasthan climbed 27 ranks to bag the second position and four cities from the state, namely; Udaipur, Kota, Ajmer and Jaipur, found spots in the ranking of 100 cities. While Udaipur came 8th, Kota stood at 11th, Ajmer 29th and Jaipur 36th in the 100 city rankings.
The Government in Jharkhand is keen on developing Ranchi. In a recent review after a physical inspection by the Durga Shankar Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs of the Union Government he commented that Ranchi Smart City could serve ad a model for other states.
Apart from proper utilisation of funds and speedy implementation of projects by sticking to timelines, what has made a difference is the time to time provision of the utility certificates to the Centre by both states.
The Rajasthan urban development and housing minister Shanti Dhariwal said that the state received Rs 1,845 crore under Smart City Mission out of which Rs 1,563 crore has been spent for various projects. Out of 405 projects in four cities, 138 of them have been completed.
In Ranchi, a new city is coming up under the smart city mission in 656 acres and the process of e-auction of plots identified for development in the field of residential, commercial, educational, health, and hospitality has also started and in the first phase.
The Centre has released third and fourth instalments of Rs 100 crore and Rs 50 crore, respectively, for Udaipur. Similarly, for Jaipur and Ajmer, a third instalment of Rs 50 crore each has been released, and for Kota a request for the third instalment has been sent.
“In Jaipur, we will utilise Rs 150 crore to develop Gangauri Hospital, SMS Hospital and Medical College, which are proving to be extremely beneficial for residents during these times. Also, infrastructure of MBS, JK Lon Hospital in Kota and JLN Hospital in Ajmer are being upgraded by utilising smart city funds,” he said.
