Varanasi makes it to smart city list

New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi city, which comes in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's parliamentary constituency, has made it to the list of 27 smart cities announced on Tuesday by Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu. The 27 have been selected out of 63 cities after a three round competition. Spread over 12 states, the list includes five cities from Maharashtra, four each from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, three from Uttar Pradesh, two each from Punjab and Madhya Pradesh, and one each from Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Gujarat, Nagaland and Sikkim. The other two cities from Uttar Pradesh are Agra and Kanpur. These 27 cities have proposed a total investment of Rs 66,883 crore under respective smart city plans. This includes 42,524 crore in area based development and Rs. 11,379 crore in technology based solutions.