Minister urges Centre to extend Smart City Mission up to Sept 30

Shimla, March 29

Urban Development Minister Suresh Bhardwaj today called on Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri at New Delhi and requested him to provide extension to Smart City Mission up to September 30, 2022 to enable the state to award all works.

He said that the state would complete awarding all the works by March, 2022 but some projects needed clearances under FCA which caused the delay. He further requested the Union minister

to consider funding Himachal Pradesh on 90:10 pattern under the Smart City Project as it faces several challenges being a hill state.

He said the state was not in a position to contribute thousand crores for both cities Shimla and Dharamsala under the Smart City Mission.

He added that Himachal was getting funds on 90:10 pattern under various schemes of Government of India like AMRUT, Swachh Bharat Mission, NULM, PMAY-HFA (U).

He also requested for enhancement of allocation under AMRUT 2.0 and thanked the union government for covering all the 68 ULBs and cantonment boards along with Shimla and Kullu towns.

The Union Minister listened to the demands and assured of all possible assistance.