Ludhiana best smart city in making in state, 52nd in country
Nitin Jain
Ludhiana, June 26
As per the rankings released by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Ludhiana emerged at the top rank among the cities being developed as smart cities in the state. The city ranked 52nd among 100 cities across the country.
Municipal Corporation Commissioner Sandeep Rishi spoke about the latest rankings during a review of the Smart City Mission (SCM) projects to mark the ninth anniversary of the SCM here on Tuesday. He said that 59 projects worth Rs 569.08 crore have been completed, 8 schemes worth Rs 197.84 crore are under execution, and 14 deposit works have been tendered for Rs 163.08 crore.
He said funds amounting to Rs 889.25 crore, comprising Rs 441 crore of the centre’s share and Rs 448.25 crore of the of the state share, had already been allocated and received, of which Rs 795.44 crore had been utilised, which accounts for 89.45 per cent of total funding so far.
Rishi said the city’s rank was better than the rankings released in 2020, when it was ranked 54th in the country. He said that from rank 54 in 2020, the city secured 37 rank in 2021, 48 rank in 2022, 32 rank in January last year, 48 rank in October 2023, 53 rank in January, and 52 rank in June this year.
However, the latest ranking was 4 spots lower than the October 2023 and 2022 positions and 20 ranks below the January 2023 rank, a jump of 1 spot in the past six months. Despite the national rankings going down, Ludhiana has continued to remain the best among the three smart cities in Punjab since 2023. Rishi said in 2022, Ludhiana was adjudged second best in Punjab, with Jalandhar bagging the top spot; however, Jalandhar slipped to third rank in the state with the 67th rank in the country, while Amritsar has ranked 53rd in the country, standing at the second spot in the state.
Rishi said the rankings were decided on the basis of various parameters, depending on the progress of the works under the SCM, by taking into consideration the details of projects completed, in progress, under tendering, and still under planning, besides analysing the expenditure aspect as well. Ludhiana, popularly known as Manchester of India, spread over a 159 square km area with a population of 17 lakh as per the 2011 Census, was among 100 cities in the country and three in Punjab, which was selected under the SCM to be developed as a smart city in the first round of the selection by the MoHUA in 2015.
