7/24/23, 9:14 AM Deadline pushed to 2024, Smart Cities working hard to showcase achievements | The Indian Express

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Deadline pushed to 2024, Smart

Cities working hard to showcase
achievements
The cities have been asked to implement the “labelling strategy” by August
31.

Written by Damini Nath

New Delhi | Updated: July 24, 2023 08:17 IST

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7/24/23, 9:14 AM Deadline pushed to 2024, Smart Cities working hard to showcase achievements | The Indian Express

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15 cities selected for the pilot project, Udaipur, Agartala, Agra, Srinagar and Chandigarh are among
those that have already put up logos on the Smart Cities projects. (File Image)

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With the Government pushing the deadline of its Smart Cities Mission to next June,
the 100 cities that are part of it are marking their completed projects with logos, in
a strategy aimed at displaying the accomplishments so far.

The cities have been asked to implement the “labelling strategy” by August 31.

In a letter on June 19 detailing the strategy, the Mission told the Smart Cities’ CEOs
that given the “scale and scope” of the projects, “it is intuitively difficult to associate
changes in the city functioning (due) to specific projects/ initiatives undertaken…”

It is important, the Mission wrote, to form a “link to build trust with the
community” and that the labelling would “not only create awareness but also
strengthen the loop between citizen feedback and project implementation.”

According to data provided by the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry to the
Lok Sabha on July 20, 74% of the nearly 8,000 projects for which work orders have
been issued, have been completed.

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7/24/23, 9:14 AM Deadline pushed to 2024, Smart Cities working hard to showcase achievements | The Indian Express

In May, when the Ministry extended the Mission’s deadline from June this year to
June 30, 2024, 72% of the projects were complete.

Lok Sabha elections are expected to be held by May next year.

The “labelling strategy” was first rolled out as a pilot in 15 cities in April and
expanded to all 100 cities in June. It laid out options for using bespoke logos as well
as common imagery such as the Mission logo.

Stickers, boards, signage and other such material were also designed for
installation on completed projects, including smart roads, lights, preserved heritage
sites, etc.

According to the strategy document, the labelling exercise was “not marketing”, but
rather a method for creating awareness and providing information to the
stakeholders of the projects.

Of the 15 cities selected for the pilot project, Udaipur, Agartala, Agra, Srinagar and
Chandigarh are among those that have already put up logos on the Smart Cities
projects.

In Udaipur, visitors are given additional information through a QR code that leads
to a city app developed under the Mission. In Agartala, the boards that have been
put up have left space for advertisements, for generating revenue.

The Srinagar Smart City put up small boards on ‘Smart Poles’ with the logo of the
city on one side and of the Mission on the other. In Surat, digital logos are being
displayed on screens that can be used for advertisements as well.

The Mission was launched in 2015 and the cities were selected in various rounds
from January 2016 to June 2018, with each getting five years from their selection to
complete the projects.

As of July 7, a total of Rs.73,454 crore had been released to the cities, which have
utilised 90% of the amount, the Ministry’s July 20 reply in the Lok Sabha said.

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7/24/23, 9:14 AM Deadline pushed to 2024, Smart Cities working hard to showcase achievements | The Indian Express

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The total cost of the projects is estimated to be Rs.1,79,204 crore.

© The Indian Express (P) Ltd

First published on: 24-07-2023 at 04:04 IST

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