Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday met Urban Development Minister Venkiah Naidu to complain against the selection of 20 smart cities which included none from Bihar. He sought changes in the selection parameters and inclusion of all the state capitals, including Patna.
Kumar said all the 100 cities selected in stage-1 of Smart Cities Mission should get resource support from the first year. Nitish has written a letter to Naidu which says that there were “policy infirmities” in implementing centrally-sponsored schemes, including Smart Cities Mission and Swachh Bharat Mission.
The letter states,“Twenty cities were perfunctorily selected nationally, wherein none of the cities in Bihar were chosen”. Kumar has lamented that parameters like regional imbalance, gaps in institutional capabilities and variation in current levels of development have not been taken into account.
“The exercise will widen the regional imbalance as the selected cities have relatively better infrastructure and strong institutions,” he added.
Published 04 February 2016, 20:05 IST