Doon hopeful of a smart city berth in the third stage

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, May 24

Dehradun once again could not find a place among the 13 cities selected for the smart city project. The Union Urban Development Ministry made this announced today. But the hope is not lost for Dehradun as it has made considerable improvement in the second attempt.

The city had to negotiate through several controversies by opting for retrofitting of old areas rather than acquiring land under the green field project.

Dehradun ranked 17th among 23 states. It scored 52 per cent in the overall assessment. The authorities are hopeful that the city will make the cut in the third attempt.

“Twenty-seven more cities are to be selected for the next round to be finalised in July. We are hopeful of making a cut in the third round,” said Meenakshi Sundaram, nodal officer for the smart city project.

In the first attempt, Dehradun had emerged at the bottom in the list of 96 cities. But in the second stage of the competition, the results of which were declared today, Bhopal city that is among the 13 selected cities has scored 54 per cent. Dehradun bagging the 17th place has scored 52 per cent points.

Officials say the authorities will only have to fine-tune the project so that the few objections raised by the ministry are removed.