Ludhiana: The city of Ludhiana has been declared as the top smart city in Punjab, securing the first position at the state level and the 48th rank nationally, as confirmed officially by the government. These most recent rankings were unveiled by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA). During a review of the progress of Smart City Mission (SCM) initiatives, Municipal Corporation Commissioner Sandeep Rishi shared this information.
Ludhiana’s projects came under the purview of Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora, representing Ludhiana, who urged the Commissioner to expedite the completion of ongoing projects. He revealed that 52 projects with a total value of Rs 210 crore had already been finished, 16 schemes worth Rs 549.1 crore were in progress, and four works were tendered at a cost of Rs 161.9 crore.
Rishi informed Arora that the entire allocated budget of Rs 889.25 crore, which included Rs 441 crore from the Center and Rs 448 crore from the state, had been received, with Rs 768.26 crore already utilised.
In terms of rankings, Ludhiana showed substantial improvement compared to 2020 when it stood at 54th place nationally. Over the years, Ludhiana’s ranking steadily improved, moving from 54th in 2020 to 37th in 2021, 48th in 2022, and 32nd in January of the current year. However, the most recent ranking is 16 places lower than the previous year, and 11 positions below the 2021 rank, yet it represents a 6-position increase over the past four years.
In the previous year, Ludhiana was the second-best city in Punjab, with Jalandhar taking the top spot in 2022. This time, Jalandhar slipped to the third position in the state, ranking 84th nationally, while Amritsar secured the 79th rank in the country and stood second in Punjab.
Ludhiana, spanning an area of 169 square km with a population of 16.18 lakh as per the 2011 Census, was one of the 100 cities across India, and one of three in Punjab, selected for development as a smart city in the initial round of selection by the MoHUA in 2015 under the Smart City Mission (SCM).
Discussion about this post