Lucknow, Warangal...2nd List Of Smart Cities Is Out: 10 Facts

Lucknow and Warangal top the list of 13 winners announced by Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu today. The others are - Dharamshala, Chandigarh, Raipur, New Town Kolkata, Bhagalpur, Panaji, Port Blair, Imphal, Ranchi, Agartala and Faridabad.

The 20 cities selected in January were Bhubaneswar, Pune, Jaipur, Surat, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Jabalpur, Visakhapatnam, Solapur, Davangere, Indore, the New Delhi area, Coimbatore, Kakinada, Belgaum, Udaipur, Guwahati, Chennai, Ludhiana and Bhopal.

The names were picked from a list of 97 cities submitted by states during a competition last year. The choices were judged on service levels, infrastructure and track record.

 More than 2.5 million citizens weighed in on which urban problems needed to be solved first. To qualify, states and local administrations had to provide "smart answers" to a template with 43 questions.

The cities which did not make it in the first round were asked to focus on deficiencies and prepare for a fast-track screening for round 2 of announcements.

The contest for the remaining cities will begin in September this year.

PM Modi-led government has said it plans to create 100 new smart cities by 2022 that will have internet connectivity, e-governance along with quality infrastructure such as waste management and efficient public transport.

The PM had described Smart Cities as those with "very high quality of life comparable with any developed European city".

While 20 smart cities were selected during 2015-16 as per guidelines, another 40 would be selected during 2016-17 and the remaining 40 during the next financial year.

Each city selected in different rounds of competition will be given central assistance of Rs 200 crore in the first year and Rs 100 crore each during the subsequent three financial years. State governments and respective urban local bodies will also provide the same amount.