Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has said, behavioral change is the key to achieve sustainable development in rapidly growing urbanization in the country. He said, the scheme of smart cities can never get success unless there is a concept of cleanliness.

The Minister was speaking at an interactive session- India’s Urban Renaissance, jointly organized by Research and Information System for Developing Countries, RIS, and National Institute of Urban Affairs in New Delhi today. The event is aimed at seeking active involvement of experts and stakeholders required to deal with various infrastructural issues in urban spaces.

Expressing concern over growing incidents of encroachment in cities, Mr. Puri said, such incidents are result of cultural impurity among the masses and change in the behavior will be instrumental to eradicate such evil practices. The Minister also said, his Ministry has devised effective mechanism to deal with such encroachments.