Non-representation of Chhattisgarh in the list of 30 cities to be developed as smart cities by the Centre in the first phase has caused huge embarrassment to chief minister Raman Singh.
Non-representation of Chhattisgarh in the list of 30 cities to be developed as smart cities by the Centre in the first phase has caused huge embarrassment to chief minister Raman Singh.
Although the chief minister’s followers blamed the bureaucracy for the “fiasco”, Mr Singh’s detractors saw the development as a sign of uneasy relationship between the regional satrap and the Central leadership.
“There is absolutely no political reason behind Chhattisgarh remaining unrepresented in the first list of 30 cities declared by the Centre to be developed as smart cities in the current year. The Centre has already chosen 100 cities in the country to develop them as smart cities. Two cities of Chhattisgarh, Raipur and Bilashpur, are among them.
But, neither of the cities has figured in the list of 30 cities declared by the Centre to develop them as smart cities in the current year, because they failed to fulfil certain parameters. But, the case of two cities will be taken up at a latter stage. This is no big issue. The BJP does not do politics as far as development is concerned,” state BJP spokesman and chairman of Raipur Development Agency (RDA) Sanjay Srivastav told this newspaper here on Saturday.
However, dissidents in the BJP dub the development as Mr Singh’s failure to put pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to clear the state government’s proposal to develop twin cities of Raipur and Bilashpur as smart cities in the first phase itself.
“Chhattisgarh has remained unrepresented in the first two lists of smart cities declared by the Centre despite being a BJP-ruled state, whereas six cities of the neighbouring state of Madhya Pradesh, also ruled by the BJP, have figured in the these lists,” a Cabinet minister in the state government known to be a “Raman-baiter” said.
