Haryana asks Centre to develop Gurgaon as state’s third ‘smart city’

Hindustan Times: Gurgaon: Tuesday, 17 November 2015.

The Haryana government has moved the Centre, asking it to develop Gurgaon as the third ‘smart city’ in the state.

Gurgaon recently lost out to Karnal and Faridabad in the race for the ‘smart city’ project of the Centre.

The state government has also decided that if the Union government cannot consider developing Gurgaon as the third ‘smart city’, Haryana will pay for the Centre’s share from the Municipal Corporation Gurgaon (MCG) funds.

The state government has written to the Centre in this regard.

This was revealed by the state government in an RTI reply recently given to city-based activist Aseem Takyar.

As per the guidelines issued by the ministry of urban development for the project, two cities in Haryana will be developed as ‘smart cities’.

According to the RTI reply, Gurgaon was on the third position among the participating municipal corporations/council. Therefore, the state government has asked the Centre to develop Gurgaon as the third ‘smart city’ in Haryana.

The reply also stated that the move will help MCG to get technical and other support from the Union government as envisaged under the smart city project. As per the Centre’s smart city scheme, Rs 100 crore will be given a year for five years for developing the selected city.

Earlier, chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar had said that Haryana will arrange Rs 500 crore at its own for Gurgaon.