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We ensured Smart City proposal was not rejected this time: Mayor

Last Updated 23 June 2017, 20:31 IST

 After a wait of two years, Bengaluru finally got the Smart City tag when Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu announced the list of 30 cities to benefit under the project on Friday.

The city missed the Smart City bus three times. Bengaluru is considered the Silicon Valley of India and its claim carried more weightage. However, it lagged behind many other small towns in the country, which are nowhere in terms of technological advancement as Bengaluru is.

“Last time we missed the Smart City tag by a whisker. We failed by 0.5 points. This time, we decided to present a strong case. We took time to prepare a detailed proposal. I sat with (BBMP) commissioner Manjunath Prasad and Manoj Rajan (special commissioner) and decided to present a proposal that could not be trashed this time,” said Mayor G Padmavathi.

The mayor said there are not many benefits under the Smart City tag other than the Rs 500-crore grant spanning five years. A matching grant will be released by the state government as well. “More than grants, it is a prestige issue for us. Many small towns got the smart city status whereas the IT City and Science City Bengaluru was left behind,” said Padmavathi.

T Muralidhara, BBMP’s nodal officer for the Smart City project, said this five-year project of Smart City will become a special purpose vehicle to replicate this model in other parts of the city.

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(Published 23 June 2017, 20:31 IST)

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