Gurugram will be made ‘smartest city', says Haryana CM

The chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar said Gurugram was not included in Centre's Smart City Mission as the state wants to make it the ‘smartest city’.

Gurugram was not included in the Centre's Smart City Mission as the Haryana government wants it to be not smart but the "smartest city", Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said on Saturday after he inaugurated a flyover and an underpass here.

Khattar said for a Smart City, the central government allocates an amount of ₹500 crore, whereas in Gurugram projects worth ₹1,000 crore have been completed. (Parveen Kumar/HT File Photo)

He said the new projects -- the flyover at Basai Chowk and the underpass at Mahavir Chowk near the main bus stand -- built at a cost of ₹141 crore will help ease traffic movement in the city and provide people relief from jams.

Addressing a gathering, the chief minister said a new chapter has been added to the journey that started eight years ago to make Gurugram a developed city.

Targeting the previous dispensations, Khattar said they had exploited Gurugram and had never paid attention towards its development. Various development plans of the previous governments remained on paper and were not implemented.

"When our government came in 2014, the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) was formed to expand development and ensure that development schemes related to Gurugram are formulated and approved here only and there is no need to send the files to Chandigarh for approval," the chief minister said.

"When the central government implemented the Smart City Mission, Gurugram was not included in it because we aim to make Gurugram the smartest city not just smart," he said.

For the Smart City, the central government allocates an amount of ₹500 crore, whereas in Gurugram projects worth ₹1,000 crore have been completed and the work is underway on many other projects, he added.

He said the project for laying a metro line from HUDA City Centre to Gurugram, connecting the Palam Vihar area up to Dwarka Sector-21, has been approved.

He also mentioned about the multi-speciality Sheetla Mata Medical College and Hospital, a ₹542-crore project being implemented through GMDA.

Badshahpur MLA Rakesh Daulatabad, Gurugram MLA Sudhir Singla and GMDA Chief Executive Officer Sudhir Rajpal attended the event.

On the occasion, a delegation of Basai village and its surrounding areas honoured the chief minister by presenting him with a turban.

Meanwhile, a group of villagers staged a protest against the building of a dumping station in the village and demanded that it be moved to another site.

The chief minister told the villagers that it was a temporary facility and would be moved once a new plant is constructed in Bandhwadi.

As the villagers stuck to their demand, the chief minister agreed to move the dumping station.