By Bizodisha Bureau, August 27, 2015 : Temple city Bhubaneswar and steel city Rourkela have found place in the first list of 98 cities and towns under Smart City Mission announced by the Centre on Thursday.

The 98 cities selected under Smart City Mission have a population of about 13 crore, accounting for over 35 per cent of the country’s urban population, said Union minister of Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu while announcing the list cities and towns selected for development as smart cities.

Odisha government had proposed names of five cities for inclusion in the programme. The cities proposed to the Centre included Bhubaneswar, Rourkela, Cuttack, Berhampur and Sambalpur.
Bhubaneswar had topped the list of cities with a score of 70 per cent followed by Rourkela (61.11 per cent). After these two, Cuttack, Sambalpur and Berhampur were tied with scores of 60 per cent each.

The exclusion of three cities- Cuttack, Berhampur and Sambalpur from the list, however, has evoked sharp reactions from the opposition parties.

“It is unfortunate that Cuttack was not included in the mission. The BJD (Bjiu Janata Dal ) government has been neglecting the millennium city time and again. The public representatives are responsible for it”, said Cuttack district Congress president, Mohammed Moquim.

Rourkela MLA expressed his happiness on the inclusion of Rourkela in the Smart City Mission. “We are happy that steel city is included in the mission. The justified demand of the citizens of Rourkela was approved by the Central government,” Ray said.
Sambalpur MLA, Raseswari Panigrahi is hopeful of inclusion of the key western Odisha city in the second list of Smart City Mission.

A state-level high power steering committee chaired by Odisha chief secretary G C Pati had proposed the names of five cities after assessing the eligibility of cities for inclusion in the mission taking into account their performances under various parameters for selection.