Mumbai refuses to play ‘smart’

Mumbai: Mumbai’s name does not feature in the final list of smart cities, as the richest municipal corporation in the country did not send a proposal to the Centre in this regard. Pimpri-Chinchwad was the only city from Maharashtra, which was selected on Friday, while Amaravati’s bid was rejected as the Centre released its final list of smart cities in Delhi. A total of 90 cities across the country now feature in this list.

The state had proposed the names of 10 cities for the project, of which eight were selected. Even though it wanted Mumbai to be included in the project, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) refused to be part of it. The civic body did not pass a resolution necessary to get selected.

Sources in the urban development department said that the Shiv Sena led BMC was not keen on participating in the project. “The BMC was not much interested in the project though the state government was keen on it. Also, Rs 500 crore amount given for the project is quite small compared to BMC’s Rs 25,000 crore budget. Differences between the between the Sena and the BJP were also a factor,” the sources said.

In fact, the Shiv Sena has made no secret of its opposition to the smart city project initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. One of the editorials in its mouthpiece, Saamana, claimed that under the pretext of a smart city, a corporate-like entity called the Special Purpose Vehicle would be established to control Mumbai’s development.

After the selection on Friday, Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis tweeted, “Thank you Hon @narendramodi ji & @MVenkaiahNaidu ji for selecting #Pimpri-Chinchwad in the new batch of 30 new #SmartCities ! Congrats PCMC!”

Mumbai is not the only city in Maharashtra that withdrew from the smart city project. The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation too had refused to be a part of it and did not pass the necessary resolution. Amaravati was not selected, as the land on which the Greenfield development plan was proposed by it, did not even belong to the municipal body.

Smart Cities from Maharashtra
-Thane
-Kalyan-Dombivali
-Pimpri-Chinchwad
-Nashik
-Solapur
-Nagpur
-Pune
-Aurangabad.