Bhubaneswar, July 23: The capital city tops the state government's recommendation for inclusion in the list of 100 proposed smart cities.

The state government is sending five names even though the Centre had asked it to recommend two cities.

Bhubaneswar made it to the top of the list from Odisha because of the municipal corporation's reforms in citizen-centric services and extensive use of information-technology based applications for grievance redressal.

This Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation scored 70 points out of 100, while Rourkela came second at 61.1. Cuttack, Berhampur and Sambalpur civic bodies have scored 60 each, said official sources.

The marks were awarded by a panel set up by the state government according to the guidelines set by the Union government.

They corporations were rated on the basis of overall sanitation, online grievance redressal system, monthly newsletter, e-publication of expenses and audits, penalty for delay in service delivery, revenue generation from taxes and fees, user fee collection, reforms under the central schemes like Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) and completion of central projects, a senior official said.

Sisir Kumar Ratho, special secretary for housing and urban development, said: "The Union government after issuing the smart city guidelines had later added some additional marking norms."

He said the report prepared by the state government will be sent to New Delhi on July 31 and the final list of the 100 smart cities is expected on August 3.

Reacting to the development, mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said: "We knew that Bhubaneswar will be the number one city. As the Centre is going to announce the list of 100 cities in three phases, we hope to be included in the first list of 20 cities. If it happens, we will get Rs 200 crore for development works."

However, the decision of the state-level high power committee to suggest smart city status to five cities has come with some criticism.

"I am unable to understand the game plan. When the Centre has asked the state to send the names of two cities, the list of five will definitely create confusion. If political considerations are taken factored in, it would create a bad impression about the state administration," said Piyush Ranjan Rout, an expert in urban management.