New Delhi: On the fourth day of the Winter Session of Parliament, Shiv Sena MP Sadashiv Lokhande claimed that Shirdi in Maharashtra has not been given the smart city tag. Replying to this query, Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri informed that neither the Maharashtra government nor the public has made such a demand, so the question of giving smart city status to Shirdi is irrelevant.
Puri said that "Shirdi could not be included in the smart city project till date because no proposal has been sent by the Maharashtra government in this regard,"
The Union Minister added that Smart City Scheme has been implemented since June 2015 and eight smart cities have already been approved in Maharashtra. Responding about the development of Shirdi as a modern or smart city, Puri said that, "smart city is not the only option on the basis of which development of a city or infrastructure can be developed there,"
He also said, "the selection of smart city are under a basic formula that is the urban population and the number of statutory towns taken care of. On this basis, a total of 100 cities have been selected between January 2016 and January 2018. He said that only 36,000 people live in Shirdi." He also said that Shirdi's performance in other central government schemes- AMRUT, PM Awas Yojana, Swachh Bharat Mission has been excellent. He also said that under the 'Smart City Project', the selection of a city is done on the initiative of citizens and state governments.
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Shiv Sena MP Sadashiv Lokhande said that Shirdi gets highest number of devotees after Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam. Almost 1 lakh people come from abroad to offer prayers. Shirdi has airport and highway connecting to the city and people who want to settle here opting for smart city.
Also if the city is converted to a smart city, it will generate employment to the unemployed, MP added.