UP top performer under Smart Cities mission

The Union ministry of housing and urban affairs has ranked Uttar Pradesh as top performer under the Smart Cities mission’s India Smart Cities Awards Contest (ISAC) 2020 followed by Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Among cities, Indore and Surat were adjudged joint winners. Among Union Territories, Chandigarh was ranked first. The awards were announced on Friday to commemorate 6 years of the three urban transformative missions of the Central government -- Smart Cities Mission (SCM), Atal Mission for Urban Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U), which were launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 25, 2015.

These awards were given across the themes of social aspects, governance, culture, urban environment, sanitation, economy, built environment, water, urban mobility. Some new themes were also added this year for Sustainable Business model of Integrated Command and Control Centres, and Innovation award specially in Covid management. Union housing affairs minister Hardeep Puri said that since 2018, we have felicitated the top-performing cities through the India Smart Cities Award Contest. This year’s best proposals range from the use of Integrated Command and Control Centres in governance or in response to Covid-19, enhancing safety and security of citizens, intelligent traffic management, innovative use of open spaces, enhancement of urban environment, innovations in the improvement of urban mobility, smart water management, waste-to-energy generation and many others.