Puducherry is first Smart City nomination received by UD Ministry

Shri M.Venkaiah Naidu compliments Chief Minister for UT being the first off the blocks

In less than a month of launch of Smart City Mission by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, Puducherry has emerged as the first nomination to be received by the Ministry of Urban Development. The Government of Union Territory of Puducherry has nominated its capital city for inclusion in the 100 Smart Cities Mission launched on the 25th of last month.

Chief Secretary of the Government of Puducherry has forwarded the nomination along with all the forms and documents including the details of evaluation of all the five urban local bodies in the Union Territory as required in the Stage-1 of ‘City Challenge’ competition. These ULBs included : Puducherry, Oulgaret, Kariakal, Mahe and Yanam.

The High Powered Steering Committee (HPSC) constituted as per the Mission Guidelines and headed by Chief Secretary has overseen the process of first stage intra-state competition and sent its recommendations to the Urban Development Ministry of the Government of India.

Puducherry which has a population of 6,57,209 has done well in respect of several Stage-1 evaluation criteria and scored 75 of the possible 100 marks. HPSC has reported that Puducherry Municipal Corporation:

-Achieved 18% improvement in provision of Household sanitary latrines since 2011;

-Increased internal revenue generation continuously over the three year period 2012-13 – 2014-15 marking an improvement of 14%;

-Paid Salaries of staff till last month;

-Has got Accounts audited up to 2012-13;

-Had 63% of budgeted receipts from tax revenue, fees, user charges, rents and other internal resources during 2014-15;

-Met 23% of its capital expenditure from internal resources;

-Met about 80% O&M costs of water supply through user charges;

-Has an operational online grievance redressal system and published monthly e-news letter; and

-Posted details of municipal budget expenditure for the last two financialyears on its website.

As required under the Smart City Mission Guidelines, the Puducherry Government has also furnished a copy of the Order constituting an Inter-Departmental Task Force to advice and coordinate preparation of Smart City Proposal for the capital city besides assisting the High Powered Steering Committee.

Minister of Urban Development Shri M.Venkaiah Naidu complimented the Government of Puducherry for being the first to send Smart City nomination and urged the Chief Minister Shri N.Rangaswamy to keep up the momentum.

As per the criteria for assigning Smart City slots for each State and UT based on equal weightage for urban population and number of urban local bodies and to ensure geographical equity, Puducherry has been assigned one slot under Smart City Mission.

Urban Development Ministry is in regular contact with all the States and UTs regarding progress of Stage-1 of ‘City Challenge’ competition ever since they were asked to send their nominations by the end of this month. As per reports, the competition is progressing well.