In a move aimed at giving fillip to overall development of Amritsar, the Centre on Thursday agreed to develop the holy city as a ‘Smart City’ under its ambitious program to refurbish the country’s major cities on modern lines. The decision was taken by Union Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation Minister M Venkaiah Naidu in a meeting with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, who impressed upon the former to include Amritsar in ‘Smart City’ project for ensuring its holistic development. He said that due focus should also be laid on the comprehensive development of the satellite towns of this city. “As a large number of devotees visit this sacred city daily to pay their obeisance at Sri Harmandir Sahib and Durgiana Mandir besides offering their tributes to martyrs at Jallianwala Bagh memorial, it is the need of the hour to develop this city on modern lines to ensure ultramodern facilities to this historic city on the concept of smart cities,” he said. He added that cities like Varanasi and Amritsar preserve our ancient heritage and glorious cultural legacy, so “thrust must be laid on developing these cities to showcase them as world class tourist destinations besides offering modern facilities and civic amenities to the local residents”.Acceding to the demand made by the Chief Minister, Naidu gave his consent to included Amritsar in the upcoming scheme of smart cities. He assured Badal that Amritsar was a revered city for the entire humanity and NDA Government would leave no stone unturned to develop it on modern lines. Naidu asked the Chief Minister, in the meantime, till this scheme was finalised, to get the requisite basic preparations done at their level so that they could later on be incorporated in the final plan.Flagging up another issue, the Chief Minister apprised Naidu that the Ministry has sanctioned 19 projects for the state worth Rs1,720 crore out of which for three projects the state has already got first installment of Rs85 crore out of the total Rs682 crore. However, he said, the grant for remaining 16 projects amounting to Rs1,037 crore was still pending with the Ministry, due to which the development projects in the State have been badly hit.Badal also apprised Naidu that State Level Sanctioning Committee had given its nod to 33 projects worth Rs743 crore for Water Supply and Sewerage for small and medium Towns under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). “The clearances for these projects are pending with the Ministry, and process of appraisal by Technical Appraisal Agency and release the funds should be expedited,” he added. Responding, Naidu assured Badal that the Centre would extend all sort of help to the state government for ensuring comprehensive development of state’s cities and towns. He also said that he would soon convene a meeting of officers of his Ministry and evolve a strategy to resolve issues raised by Badal. He also apprised the Chief Minister that the state has a lot of potential to get benefit from the National Urban Livelihood Mission, a scheme for opening skill centers to train the urban youth for gainful self employment, adding that Punjab must reap the benefits of this scheme.