Bengaluru stands a chance of making it to Smart City' list: M Venkaiah Naidu

Bengaluru: Union minister for housing and urban poverty alleviation M. Venkaiah Naidu, on Tuesday said that Bengaluru stands a chance of making it to the ‘Smart City’ project list in the next phase.

He told the media here that six cities of Karnataka, Tumakuru, Davangere, Belagavi, Hubballi-Dharwad, Mangaluru and Udupi have been included in the project.

In the second phase, Rs 428 crore was released for development of these cities. Similarly, Rs 191 crore under Amrut scheme, Rs 37 crore under Swachch Bharath scheme and Rs 58.3 crore under Pradhan Mantri Awaaz Yojane respectively were released to the state.

The minister said work on the first phase of Namma Metro was completed except for finishing touches in Chickpet Metro station. The safety test of new line would be carried out on May 12, and date of formal inauguration announced soon, he added.

Mr Naidu said the state government had agreed to implement the much-awaited Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 in 15 days. The new Act, which came into force on May 1, was people-friendly and would check private builders who cheat people through advertisements in the media. None of them need to worry as the new Act would be binding on real estate firms to provide facilities promised to customers at the time of booking of apartments. Cases would be booked against those who violate the rules, he added.

He also assured the real estate industry that the new Act would not be detrimental to them since it would affect only those companies which cheat people. Good companies would not be troubled by the department. Instead, they would be given certificates for providing good services to people. This had already come into force in 14 states since Monday, he added.