New Delhi: The Modi government not only plans to build new smart cities but also make the existing ones smarter.
The Prime Minister’s Office is working with the urban development ministry on an ambitious plan to give substantial subsidy to those cities that excel in areas like environment protection, waste management, renewable energy, urban transport and rain water harvesting among other issues.
Sources said that Mr Modi wants to launch a major initiative to make major Indian cities more clean and hygienic places to live in. For this the PM wants to offer major incentives to cities that take the initiative and encourage “healthy competition’’ to start cleanliness and environment friendly initiatives.
Sources claimed the PMO has already asked the urban development ministry to prepare an elaborate blueprint for this and discuss the issue with representatives of local bodies of important cities.
Sources said the PM is also particularly keen that a pilot project should also be launched in his constituency Var-anasi to considerably improve the civic infrastructure in the city.
Making Varanasi a cleaner city was one of the issues flagged by Mr Modi when he visited the city after he won elections. The PMO and the urban development ministry are working out the modalities on how the cities can be given greater subsidy.
