NNWN / New Delhi, 2017-06-23

An NGO has expressed serious concern over another list of 30 cities to be developed as `smart cities’ by the Ministry of Urban Development. The Urban Devlopment Ministry released new list of cities to be developed as ‘smart cities’ under India’s Smart cities mission. Thiruvananthapuram is top on the list. The list also includes , Srinagar, Bengaluru, Dehradun, Amaravati, Naya Raipur, Aligarh, Aizawl, and Gangtok. But the Housing and Land Rights Network (HLRN), India has expressed serious concerns about the Mission.

 In its report titled ‘India’s Smart cities mission: Smart for Whom? Cities for Whom?’, the HLRN said that the proposals, developed by private consulting firms, lack a comprehensive vision for the future, and omit the needs and aspirations of cities and their inhabitants, especially the majority who live and work in cities. According to HLRN, the Smart Cities Mission has no human rights framework. It lack of an inclusionary and sustainable approach to development.It is nothing but shows a trend towards privatization of governance. There can be a denial of the rights to participation and information of city residents, especially low income groups.Forced evictions and displacement resulting from smart city projects and greenfield development is not ruled out, the HLRN stated. Besides this, there will be  unrealistic reliance on technology and threats related to surveillance, data control, and the right to privacy, it added. Lastly, there will be corporatization of cities, with high dependence on foreign and private sector investment.

The government on Friday announced list of 30 cities for development as smart cities taking the total cities picked up so far to 90 under Smart City Mission launched on June 25, 2015.