Odisha Sun Times Bureau
New Delhi, June 25:

The Odisha government will soon nominate two cities for inclusion under the Union government’s 'Smart Cities' programme. The state government will soon send its list to the Centre in this connection.

Sambalpur city Sambalpur city

In the meanwhile, the NDA government at the Centre has already prepared its implementation guidelines for 100 Smart Cities and 500 Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation scheme (AMRUT) cities which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be launching today.

Ahead of the mega launch of NDA government's flagship urban renewal project, the government has assigned the number of cities each state/union territory can nominate under the 100 Smart Cities project as well as those to be developed under the AMRUT scheme.

However, states will decide which cities from their state would find place under the ‘Smart Cities’ project, revealed a senior officer of the Union Urban Development Ministry.

According to the proposed plans, Uttar Pradesh will get to nominate maximum number of cities to be developed as 'Smart Cities', followed by Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.

An Urban Development Ministry official said it is UP which has been given the opportunity to nominate the maximum of 13 cities to be developed as smart cities, while 54 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.

While Maharashtra has been allotted 10 cities to nominate under the smart city project, 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 and Delhi has got one city each for Smart City and AMRUT.

Similarly, 31 cities have been identified in Andhra Pradesh; 30 in Rajasthan; 28 in West Bengal; 27 in Bihar; 19 in Odisha and Haryana; 18 in Kerala; 17 in Punjab; 15 in Telangana and 10 in Chhattisharh under the AMRUT scheme.

West Bengal and Rajasthan get to nominate four cities for the smart city project; Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab three cities; Odisha, Haryana, Telangana and Chhatisgarh two cities; and Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Jharkhand, Assam, Himachal, Goa, Arunachal and Chandigarh one city each.