This year’s Smart City Rankings released by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has been a cheer for Uttar Pradesh, as three of the state’s cities made it to the top 10 Smart Cities. Apart from Agra topping the list, Kanpur and Varanasi also made it to the top 10 securing third and seventh rank respectively.
Although, the three cities did make it a moment of pride for the state, but, Lucknow had also won the hearts by improving its ranking from 41st, in the last year, to 12th this year.
Other cities like Aligarh was ranked 55th, while Saharanpur secured 68th position, Jhansi 83rd, Bareilly 89th, and Moradabad 97th.
The efforts of the corporation along with the State government have paid off well. Especially, for Agra which topped the list leaving behind Ahmedabad.
The Smart City rankings were released post a survey conducted on an annual basis earlier, but, as per MoHUA from this set of rankings, the survey will be conducted biannually. Therefore, the rankings released has considered efforts made in the developing the cities from October 1, 2019, to March 1, 2020.
Although, Agra holds the crown, Lucknow has made the most significant improvement in its performance. Agra ranked 12th in the previous ranking while Kanpur stood seventh and Varanasi held the 13th position.
