NAGPUR: What could be termed as a major embarrassment for BJP-ruled city, Nagpur failed to figure among top 100 smart cities in the India Smart Cities Award Contest (ISAC), organized by Union ministry of housing and urban affairs under Smart Cities Mission.
This year, under the ISAC cities were adjudged in various categories including social aspects, governance, culture, urban environment, sanitation, economy, built environment, water, sustainable business model of integrated command and control centres, urban mobility, innovative idea award and Covid innovation award.
The awards were announced to commemorate six years of the Smart City Mission.
This is the first time when the housing and urban affairs ministry has given awards to states for the overall performance of the smart cities and for their proactive role.
Nagpur failed to figure in any of the single categories.
Indore and Surat bagged the award for their overall performance in 2020, while Uttar Pradesh won the state award.
Kalyan-Dombivli was the only municipal corporation from Maharashtra to get the award in Covid innovation category.
Nagpur Smart and Sustainable City Development Corporation Ltd (NSSCDCL) is implementing several projects under the Smart City Mission.
It is working on Rs650 crore tenderSure and Rs220 crore Home Sweet Home projects.
Almost on all fronts, the progress of NSSCDCL is going at a snail’s pace in various proposed projects including area-based development of 1,730 acre land in Pardi, Bharatwada and Punapur in East Nagpur.
The NSSCDCL is yet to start the Home Sweet Home project.
Even the work of 52km roads to be developed in area based development (ABD) under tenderSure project is also going on at a snail’s pace though the job started around three years ago.
Consequently, the NMC had slipped to number 44 in Smart City rankings in January this year.
Mayor Dayashankar Tiwari was not available for his comments.