Indore is demanding expenditure amount from 25 cities by organizing India Smart City Conclave, Ujjain is also pending

Earlier the central government used to bear the expenses, now it is being recovered from all the cities.

Highlights

India Smart City Conclave-2023 was organized in Indore. Rs 37.40 crore was spent on India Smart City Conclave. 75 smart cities contributed, recovery from 25 is still pending.

Naiduniya Representative, Indore: Indore Smart City Company had spent Rs 37.40 crore on organizing India Smart City Conclave-2023 held in Indore a year ago. As compensation for this expenditure, it was decided to give Rs 37.40 lakh as its share to each of the 100 smart cities of the country.

One year is about to pass since the event, but so far only 75 smart cities of the country have been able to give their contribution amount to Indore Smart City Company. The company is now demanding to recover the amount spent on the event from 25 smart cities of the country.

Ujjain is the only city in Madhya Pradesh among the defaulting smart cities. Apart from this, 25 cities including Raipur and Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh, two from Uttar Pradesh, two from Andhra Pradesh, three from Tamil Nadu are included.

The President also attended the conclave

India Smart City Conclave was held in Indore on 26-27 September last year. More than four thousand people including representatives of 100 smart cities of the country participated in it. President Draupadi Murmu was the chief guest in this event and she gave awards to the winning cities of India Smart City Award Competition-2022. In this, Indore got the award of Best Smart City and Madhya Pradesh got the award of Best State.

Earlier the central government used to bear the expenses, this time they are recovering it from all the smart cities

In the past years, the Central Government used to provide funds for the expenses of Smart City Conclave. For the expenses of Smart City Conclave in Indore in September, it was decided that all the 100 Smart Cities participating in this event will share the expenses equally among themselves. At the event held in September, Indore Smart City Company spent Rs 37.40 crore from its own funds on the accommodation of the guests and all the arrangements related to the event.

After assessing the expenses after the event, Indore Smart City Company gave a report to the Smart City Mission of the Union Ministry of Housing and Home Affairs in May. On May 24, the Smart City Mission wrote a letter to all the 100 smart cities of the country to give their share of the amount.

It was already decided that all 100 smart cities will bear the expenses incurred in the conclave. After assessing the expenses, we sent a report to the Ministry of Urban Development, then a letter was issued to all the cities from there. Out of 100, only 25 smart cities are left to pay the amount. They will give us their contribution amount by deciding in their smart city board meeting or through some other process.

-Divyank Singh, CEO, Indore Smart City Company