Telangana most laggard in allocating funds for smart city projects, alleges G Kishan Reddy

New Delhi [India], July 27 : Despite repeated follow-ups, Telangana has been the most laggard State in transferring even the government of India's share to the smart city project, alleged Union Minister of Tourism, Culture and DoNER G Kishan Reddy.
"From the financial year 2015-2016 till 2019-2020, Government of Telangana had neither made any matching grants nor efficiently utilised the amount released by the Government of India," the Union minister said on Wednesday.
Of more than Rs 1,000 crore allocated for Smart Cities Mission in Telangana, the Government of India has released Rs 392 crores.
"50 per cent matching state share of the Government of Telangana has still not been released for the Smart Cities of Warangal and Karimnagar," he added.
The state of Telangana has been allocated 2 smart cities under the national competitive Smart Cities Challenge. Warangal was selected in May 2016 and Karimnagar in June 2017. The Smart Cities Mission is a centrally sponsored scheme with 50:50 contribution between the government of India and the States.
The Telangana Rashtra Samiti-led government falsely claims that the government of India did not release "even 1 rupee" in the last 3 years for Smart Cities in Telangana, Reddy added.
Till date, the government of Telangana has released only Rs 210 crores of the Rs 392 crores of its matching state share.
"Timely release of matching state share contribution of Government of Telangana would have ensured Warangal and Karimnagar to have better drainage and sewerage facilities and would have coped with the recent floods better."
Apart from the Smart Cities Mission, the Centre has allocated Rs 2,780 crores under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) 2.0, while 66 projects worth Rs 1,660 crores were a part of the approved plan for the first phase of ARMUT covering 12 cities in the state.