Ahead of the mega launch of NDA government's flagship urban projects the union government has assigned number of cities each State can nominate under the 100 Smart Cities project as well as those to be developed under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) scheme.
According to the criteria finalized by the government, AP gets three smart cities and Telangana gets chance to nominate two smart cities.Similarly, under the AMRUT scheme, 31 cities have been identified in Andhra Pradesh; 15 in Telangana.
Uttar Pradesh gets maximium share and it has been given the opportunity to nominate 13 cities to be developed as smart cities. 64 cities in the State have been identified under AMRUT scheme.Tamil Nadu comes second with the allocation of 12 smart cities and 33 AMRUT cities.
Maharashtra has been allotted 10 smart cities, Gujarat and Karnataka are eligible to develop six cities each. Under AMRUT scheme, 37, 31 and 21 cities have been identified in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka, respectively.
Smart city plans for each city will be evaluated in the ministry by a panel of experts based on a set of elaborate criteria. All 100 cities will be ranked based on the criteria and the top 20 will be chosen for funding during 2015-16. The Union cabinet has approved central government spending of about 1 lakh crore on urban development under two new urban missions over the next five years.
