People in Mysuru were wondering whether the city would get another chance of making it to the Smart Cities’ Mission after failing to make it to the list of cities in the State that were being developed into ‘smart cities’.
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However, Mysuru City Corporation has no information on Mysuru’s chances even as a conclave was held in Gujarat recently where the representatives of 100 smart cities, including from the State, met and discussed the progress done as part of the smart projects.
When contacted, Mayor (acting) Sunanda Palanetra said, “I have no information on the city’s chance of making it to the mission. Mysuru city missed on two occasions for some technical reasons and on other parameters though it was most eligible for being included under the smart city development.” She added, “The MCC can make another attempt, writing to the Centre, on its inclusion. But the project has moved much ahead now. We need to look beyond.”
In the first round of 20 cities announced in 2015, only Davangere and Belagavi were chosen from the State. Mysuru did not make it even when four more cities from the State — Mangaluru, Tumakuru, Shivamogga and Hubballi-Dharwad — were included. One of the reasons cited by the Union Ministry of Urban Development is that the city corporation had not audited its accounts since 2011. Another reason is non-utilisation of 80% of the funds under JNNURM. Mysuru would have scored an additional 10 marks if the JNNURM funds had been spent in full.
NGO activists had said that the reason given for the city not making it to the list was that it did not score well on 13 parameters, including existing service level, reform track record, implementation of JNNURM works, and self-financing capacity.