Lucknow, Faridabad and Chandigarh Chosen among 13 new smart cities

Lucknow, New Town in Kolkata, Bhagalpur and Dharamsala are among the 13 urban centres picked to be developed as smart cities under the Centre’s plan for an urban overhaul. Chandigarh, Faridabad, Raipur, Ranchi, Warangal, Agartala, Imphal, Port Blair and Panaji are the other cities chosen on Tuesday through a fast-track competition.

In January, when the first 20 smart cities were announced the Centre had come under fire for leaving out cities from non-NDA states such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had even said the urban plan promoted “regional inequality.”

Other state governments had also said the first list was tilted heavily in favour of the NDA-ruled state. All the 12 cities from Uttar Pradesh — shortlisted from the 98 potential smart cities — lost out in the first round.

In view of the criticism, the Union Urban Development Ministry decided to fast-track the selection process to choose the second lot from a list of 23.