Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Smart Cities Mission

Mains level: Not Much

smart-cities

Central idea: The Govt asks 20 worst-performing cities to improve as June 2023 Smart Cities Mission deadline nears.

What is the Smart Cities Mission?

smart cities

The Smart Cities Mission is an initiative of the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry that was launched by PM on June 25, 2015.
Cities across the country were asked to submit proposals for projects to improve municipal services and to make their jurisdictions more liveable.
Between January 2016 and June 2018 (when the last city, Shillong, was chosen), the Ministry selected 100 cities for the Mission over five rounds.

Deadline of the project

The projects were supposed to be completed within five years of the selection of the city.
However, in 2021 the Ministry changed the deadline for all cities to June 2023, which was earlier the deadline for Shillong alone.

Project proposals ranged from making certain stretches of roads more accessible and pedestrian-friendly to more capital-intensive ones like laying water pipelines and constructing sewage treatment plants.
All 100 cities have constructed Integrated Command and Control Centres.
These centres monitor all security, emergency and civic services.
During the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, many of these centres were converted into emergency response units by the cities.

As of March 3, 100 cities have issued work orders for 7,799 projects worth Rs 1.80 lakh crore.
Out of these, 5,399 projects worth Rs.1.02 lakh crore have been completed, and the rest are ongoing.
Only around 20 cities are likely to meet the June deadline. The rest will need more time.
Shillong has completed just one of its 18 proposed projects.