Indore and Surat were adjudged joint winners of Smart Cities Award 2020
Nagpur: In a development that would leave the NMC bosses red-faced, Nagpur has failed to figure among top 100 cities in the India Smart Cities Award Contest, organised by Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs under Smart Cities Mission.
Indore and Surat were adjudged joint winners of Smart Cities Award 2020, while Uttar Pradesh secured the first position in the State awards category, followed by Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The awards were given based on a range of themes like social aspects, governance, culture, urban environment, sanitation, economy, built environment, water and urban mobility.
This is the first time the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has given awards to states for the overall performance of the smart cities and their proactive role.
Nagpur failed to figure in the single categories. Kalyan-Dombivli was the only Municipal Corporation in Maharashtra to get the award in Covid innovation category. Nagpur Smart and Sustainable City Development Corporation Limited (NSSCDCL) is implementing several projects under the Smart Cities Mission. Almost on all fronts, the NSSCDCL is going on with tardy progress in various proposed projects including in Pardi, Punapur and Bharatwada in East Nagpur. The NSSCDCL is yet to start the Home Sweet Home project.
In 2019, Surat was the only winner among smart cities. This is the first time that States have also been awarded for the overall performance of smart cities. The Ministry also announced joint winners under the COVID innovation category — Kalyan-Dombivli and Varanasi.
The awards were announced on the occasion of the sixth anniversary of the Smart Cities Mission, the Atal Mission for Urban Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) and the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U). Chandigarh bagged the award for Union Territories, while Indore won the “Innovative Idea Award”. According to the ministry, Ahmedabad bagged the ‘Smart Cities Leadership Award’, followed by Varanasi and Ranchi in the second and third spots respectively. The top nine performing cities which have been awarded a 4-star rating are Surat, Indore, Ahmedabad, Pune, Vijayawada, Rajkot, Visakhapatnam, Pimpri-Chinchwad and Vadodara.
