Panchkula fails to make it to list

Rajinder Nagarkoti

Tribune News Service

Panchkula, June 23

Once again, Panchkula has missed the Smart City tag. It figures nowhere on the list of 30 cities announced today for development under the Centre’s Smart City Mission. In Haryana, only Karnal (12th position) has been chosen.

The blame-game between Panchkula MLA Gian Chand Gupta and Mayor Upinder Kaur Ahluwalia has already begun. The latest announcement takes the number of cities to 90 under the scheme.The remaining 10 cities are likely to selected by early next year.

Omission leads to debate

Recently, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Urban Development had questioned as to why Panchkula had not been included in the list of smart cities despite being an important economic centre with a cosmopolitan character. The committee’s 14th report, submitted in Parliament recently, stated that cities, such as Panchkula with a population of more than 5 lakh, had not been included “despite being economic, industrial and employment-generating centres”.