Varanasi, Kanpur and Agra among 27 cities in third smart cities list

New Delhi [India], Sept. 20 (ANI): The Centre on Tuesday announced the third list of 27 cities for financing under the Government flagship Smart City Mission, which included Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Parliamentary constituency Varanasi. Announcing the list of the urban centres, Union Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said that a total investment of Rs.1, 44, 742 crores has been proposed by 60 cities under smart city plans. "63 cities have so far participated in three rounds of competition, 27 of 63 participating cities have qualified. 27 new batch of smart cities are from 12 states," Naidu told a press briefing. The list of the 27 Smart cities include-Agra, Ajmer, Amritsar, Aurangabad, Gwalior, Hubli-Dharwad, Jalandhar, Kalyan-Dombiwali, Kanpur, Kohima, Kota, Madurai, Mangaluru, Nagpur, Namchi ,Nashik, Rourkela, Salem, Shivamogga, Thane, Thanjavur, Tirupati,Tumakuru, Ujjain, Vadodara, Varanasi and Vellore. As per the Mission guidelines, as many as 40 cities have to be announced during this financial year, as the government had already announced 13 cities in May. In January, the government had announced a list of 20 cities for partial funding to be developed as smart cities, which would have facilities such as assured water and power supply, sanitation and solid waste management systems, efficient urban mobility and public transportation, IT connectivity and e-governance, among others. Each city will receive Central assistance of Rs. 200 crores in the first year and Rs. 100 crores over the three subsequent financial years. State governments and respective urban local bodies will also match the Centre's contribution. The Government aims to transform about 100 cities by 2019-20, with the Centre providing financial support of Rs. 48,000 crores over five years. (ANI)