Lucknow tops new Smart City list, Smart City Mission, Akhilesh Yadav government, Uttar Pradesh, Mayor Dinesh Sharma , Smart Cities 2016 UP
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- Category: UP Political News
- Last Updated: Wednesday, 25 May 2016 13:30
Lucknow tops new Smart City list, Smart City Mission, Akhilesh Yadav government, Uttar Pradesh, Mayor Dinesh Sharma , Smart Cities 2016 UP
With Lucknow topping the list of 13 more cities that will be developed under the Centre’s ‘Smart City Mission’, the Akhilesh Yadav government in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh gained some brownie points as BJP national vice-president and Lucknow Mayor Dinesh Sharma credited him along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the development.
Lucknow had failed to find a place in the first list of 20 cities selected to be developed as Smart Cities by the Centre about four months ago.
The UP capital and 22 other cities, which failed to get representation in the first round, participated in the ‘Fast Track Competition’, the result of which was announced by Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu Tuesday. Of these 23 cities, only 13 could qualify for the Smart City Project through the fresh competition. In its proposal sent to the Centre for Fast Track Smart City Competition, the state government had highlighted projects including the Metro rail and the Gomti river front development — the two pet projects of Akhilesh.
The senior officers in UP government, however, did not rule out possibility of politics behind Lucknow topping the second list.
Lucknow is the Lok Sabha constituency of Home Minister Rajnath Singh who is also considered the leading contender as BJP’s chief ministerial candidate in the poll-bound state, a senior officer said requesting anonymity. Soon after his election in 2014, the Centre had approved an Outer Ring Road project for Lucknow and the Ministry of Defence too had granted the go-ahead to several state government projects that were pending clearance.
Lucknow district magistrate, Raj Shekhar too credited Lucknow making it to Smart City list to the infrastructure development undertaken in the city during the past few months.
The DM said that the development of the Metro rail is already in progress and cycle tracks have been developed in the city. He said there is a plan to run CNG buses for public transport and several new CNG filling stations will also be sanctioned. -