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Infrastructure upgrade ahead for Leh as it may get the ?Smart City? tag

2019-08-14

Post Ladakh being declared a Union Territory, it is likely that it?s headquarter Leh will be the next city to be awarded the ?Smart City? tag. It is all set to undergo a massive ground-level transformation as the Centre is keen on introducing new infrastructure projects to aid the urban development of the area.

This comes after an announcement made by the government during the launch of the Smart City Scheme ? where they declared that all state capitals and headquarters of UTs would get this tag.

Reportedly, a team consisting of members from the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry- who are in charge of the Smart City Mission will head down to Leh to assess the place and accordingly formulate a plan. It is expected that blueprints for building infrastructure and development of the city will be based on the smart city principles which will be administered by the local government.

Prior to this, the Centre had already shortlisted 100 cities for this mission. According to the selected places, Jammu and Kashmir has two smart cities since it previously had two capitals ? Srinagar and Jammu.?

However, the progress, in terms of infrastructure in both the cities had been mediocre.?

To the government?s credit ? Leh was declared open defecation free in 2017 and was added to the list of the 100 cleanest cities in India.?

It is a popular tourist destination and the government is keen on protecting the local culture of the city while chalking out a developmental plan for it. The focus is on uplifting the economic conditions of the habitants and increasing amenities.?