The Pallavaram municipality has shown great enthusiasm for the Smart City Mission, with a team from the Directorate of Municipal Administration (DMA) attending a meeting in New Delhi recently to familiarise itself with the procedures and practices stipulated under the mission.
According to DMA sources, the team was informed that getting development funds under the mission entailed meeting certain stringent requirements and being aligned with the objectives of the mission, which include promoting economic growth, improving governance, and ensuring good quality of life for urban residents.
The sources said the team learnt that making it to the list of 20 cities in phase 1 was contingent on the acceptance of the proposals submitted to the Union government.
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The team was informed that the cities would be selected for grant through a competitive process.
The contenders would be evaluated for their ability to perform as per the guidelines released for the scheme.
Pallavaram municipal commissioner S. Sivasubramanian said the proposals would have to be first submitted to the State government, which would forward them to the Union Ministry of Urban Development.
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The process also involved close coordination between the local administration department and the municipal Corporation in the preparation of the proposals.
The municipality placed a resolution before its elected council members, seeking their consent for going ahead with the submission of proposals to the State government, he said. Mr. Sivasubramanian expressed confidence that the municipality would manage to get the grants under various schemes.
Out of the shortlisted cities drawn from different States, the Union Ministry of Urban Development would select 20 cities for phase-I, which would be supported and funded in 2015-16.
It is not the end of the road for the cities that are rejected. They can make improvements and apply again when phase 2 or phase 3 of the programme is launched.