Eight cities from Karnataka vying for smart city funding

Bengaluru: Financial support for 20 Smart Cities up for grabs this financial year. How much of the funds is the state able to utilise?

According to the announcement made by the Union Urban Development Ministry, Karnataka’s quota in the proposed 100 smart cities is six, while eight cities in the state including Tumakuru and Mysuru are in the fray. With the central government making it clear that only 20 cities will be funded this academic year, the competition has intensified.

The officials at the State Urban Development Department and the Union Government have already notified their selection criteria.  “Tumakuru and Mangaluru will be the forerunners for central funding this year. Mysuru is also another potential city, but the delay in the implementation of a few JNNURM projects and urban government reforms are expected to cost the city dearly,” said an officer.

An inclusive approach and stringent guidelines:  
The smart city application process and guidelines have been fixed for the local urban government to select cities under the smart city project. The union urban development ministry has thus proposed a foolproof mechanism to ensure only eligible cities get financial aid under the scheme.

“As per the guidelines, scores would be awarded based on factors like inclusive approach towards the overall development, citizen participation and e-governance to name a few. For every parameter, marks are fixed.

Cities which get the highest marks will be selected under the scheme. With every state having a fixed quota, it would be like an intra-state competition,” explained an officer.

According to the smart city guidelines released by the urban development department, issues like the amount of time taken to give building plan approvals, increase in property tax assessment and collection, collection of user charges for water, improvement in power supply, easing of traffic congestion and online accessing of statutory documents through adoption of IT will be considered while awarding marks.

“Records of the last three years will be considered. So it is not possible to tweak the facts,” he added,