Punjab CM Seeks Smart City Status For Mohali, Meets Union Minister Hardeep Puri

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann recently met Union Housing and Development Minister Hardeep Puri at New Delhi and demanded that Mohali be made a ‘smart city’.

According to reports, the Punjab CM said that most departments of the state government have their head offices in Mohali. And it is the need of the hour to include it in the Smart City Project for its holistic and planned growth.

In his meeting with the Union Minister, Mann further said Mohali needed special funding to support planned growth and infrastructure development. Cities like Zirakpur, Mohali, Kharar, Dera Bassi, and Kurali have witnessed growth with the opening of Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport and the presence of various national-level institutions, educational institutes, townships and industries. 

The Housing Minister Hardeep Puri also tweeted about this meeting. “I explained to him that 100 Smart Cities were selected through a two-stage competitive process. States were free to develop more cities following this model.”

This is not the first time that the demand to declare Mohali as Smart City has been raised. Earlier too in March this year, Punjab BJP vice-president and former Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu had asked Puri to announce Mohali as a ‘smart city’.

During a meeting with the Union Minister at Delhi, Sidhu had said Mohali had been constantly expanding as a city and had advanced infrastructure.