Patna, Jan. 30: Chief minister Nitish Kumar today likened the Centre to the fabled “andher nagri (city of darkness)” for ignoring Bihar while picking the first list of 20 smart cities.
“It’s andher nagri… no propriety, no rules, nor any thought for regional balance,” Nitish said. Andher nagri (a shortened version of the Hindi idiom andher nagri, chaupat raja; takey ser bhaji, takey ser khaja) is used to
denote a chaotic, absurd state where knaves rule among the fools.
No city from Bihar figures in the list of 20 smart cities announced by Union urban development minister M. Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday.
Under the plan, the Centre will pump in Rs 50,802 crore into the cities over the next five years to refurbish basic amenities, the focus being also on improving information technology infrastructure to provide essential services to residents.
“Whatever is happening is their (Centre’s) wish. There are no rules or laws for them. The move to make ‘smart
cities’ was their idea,” Nitish said.
Under the plan, 97 cities across the country would be developed as smart cities. Three from Bihar — Bhagalpur, Biharsharif and Muzaffarpur — are among the 97 shortlisted but none made it to the first list of 20.
“They were the ones to fix criteria and initiate the process of choosing such cities. And when the Bihar government sent its proposal, fulfilling all conditions imposed by the Centre, they reneged on their promise,” the chief minister said.
Nitish was talking to journalists after a Martyrs’ Day function (observed on the 68th death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi) at Gandhi Ghat along the banks of the river Ganga.
Though Bhubaneswar, the Odisha capital, has topped the list, no city from other eastern states such as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh or Bengal has made it to the smart list.
Theoretically, Bihar can still make the cut in the next list. But urban planners, who spoke under cover of anonymity, pointed out that the time taken to select the first list raised questions about the effectiveness of the subsequent lists.
“Under the plan, Rs 100 crore is to be given to each smart city every year for five years. The second list will take some time to come. By then it would be time to prepare for the 2019 general election. Will politicians then be prepared for spending money on urban centres?” said a town planner in Patna who did not wish to be named.
New bridge
Nitish said construction of the six-lane bridge over the Ganga, connecting Kachchi Dargah in Patna district to Biddupur in Vaishali district, will start on Sunday.
Its foundation stone was laid before the Assembly elections last year.
“There is a gap of just four months between laying of the foundation stone and starting of work on the bridge,” Nitish said. “All formalities for construction, including funding, were completed before the foundation stone was laid.”
