Four years and counting: Smart Cities Mission a damp squib  

NEW DELHI: With the deadline of 2019 approaching, one of the most ambitious projects of the Narendra Modi Government, the ‘Smart Cities Mission’, is turning out to be damp squib even by the government’s own internal assessment.Earlier in March, the Finance Ministry had done an internal assessment of all pet projects including the Smart Cities Mission, eventually pulling up ministries.  “There had been very slow progress in the Smart Cities Mission. The government has extended all the support and the PMO was taking personal interest. Still, barring a few cities, the enthusiasm is very low. We had warned the ministry last year to monitor the progress, but it is still not up to expectations,” a secretary from the department of expenditure said.

In ts tabled report, the panel has pointed out that of all the urban missions, Smart Cities has the lowest utilisation at 1.83 per cent of the total `9,943 crore released so far. According to finance ministry officials, despite multiple reminders, municipal bodies were not keen on claiming their money.Meanwhile, the PMO, which was personally monitoring the progress of both the Smart Cities and Swachh Bharat missions had raised concerns in a review meeting held  ahead of the cabinet reshuffle last year.

When Hardeep Puri took charge as the new minister, he announced a contest rewarding cities, projects and innovative ideas promoting Smart City Mission goals, with a rider that all the participating projects to be completed by April 1, 2018.However, according to sources at the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), there aren’t enough entries and many Municipal bodies had even listed road repairing programmes under the mission.

What went wrong?
The MoHUA has shifted the blame on to the states and municipal bodies for their lack of enthusiasm. “We have done one on one consultations and are extending help... but we cannot give everything on a platter. When the mission was announced, the purpose was to make municipal bodies financially self sufficient. You cannot be completely dependent on central funds for every project,” a senior MoHUA official said, adding however that it is too early to monitor progress.