Shillong, Aug. 27: The NDA government's vision of "Act East" and "bottom-up" planning did not go unnoticed today in New Delhi during the unveiling of 98 cities and towns from across the country for the "Smart City Mission".

While "developed" cities like Bangalore and Calcutta did not make an entry into the list, the capitals of the northeastern states, barring Itanagar and Dispur (although Guwahati was named), were among the 98 "smart city" nominees. In fact, nine state capitals failed to find a place.

But there are still miles to cover before crores of rupees start pouring in to develop these places into smart cities.

Unveiling the list of 98 cities and towns selected for development as "smart cities", Union minister for urban development M. Venkaiah Naidu asked states and urban local bodies to "rise to the challenge".

The 98 cities selected under the mission have a population of about 13 crore, accounting for over 35 per cent of the country's urban population.

The seven citiesowns in the Northeast include Guwahati, Shillong, Imphal, Aizawl, Kohima, Agartala and Pasighat (Arunachal Pradesh). Together they house a population of 21,39,319.

An official communiqué stated that the respective states and Union Territories nominated the 98 cities and towns at the end of the first stage of the "City Challenge" competition in which all the urban local bodies in each state and Union Territory were evaluated based on their financial and institutional capacities and past track record.

Naidu said the 98 cities and towns will now have to prepare city-level "smart city plans", and these will be evaluated in the second stage of the competition based on a broad set of criteria to select the top 20 cities for financing during the current financial year.

"Funds may be released to these 20 cities by the end of this year. Others will be asked to improve upon the identified deficiencies before participating in the next two rounds of competition," Naidu said.

Those cities to be selected in the second stage of the competition would be provided with central assistance of Rs 200 crore in the first year followed by Rs 100 crore each year during the next three years.

He said nine capital cities - Itanagar, Patna, Shimla, Bangalore, Daman, Thiruvananthapuram, Puducherry, Gangtok and Calcutta - were not selected, which only proved that the smart city selection was "not influenced by the stature or importance of the cities".

Stating that making smart cities is a "challenging task" where states and urban local bodies have to "rise to the challenge", Naidu said the Centre has undertaken measures to empower them to meet the challenges.

He said as against the central assistance of Rs 36,000 crore during the 10 years of JNNURM, the Centre would provide about Rs 3 lakh crore under various new urban initiatives.

On the concept of smart city, Naidu said, "A smart city would ensure core infrastructure needed for decent living in urban areas. We are not aiming at making our urban landscape look fanciful and flashy. The prime objective is to enhance the quality of urban life by addressing deficiencies in core infrastructure. Expectations in various quarters may be high but the mission is very practical and realistic in its intentions and objectives."

He observed that the nation cannot afford to miss this opportunity of recasting the country's urban landscape, and the situation is "perform or perish" for the states and urban local bodies.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Meghalaya urban affairs minister M. Ampareen Lyngdoh said consultants empanelled by the Centre would now be engaged in the preparation of the plan.

"We will take some time to prepare the plan as we have to provide several inputs," Lyngdoh said.