Image: Northeast Now

Tripura capital city of Agartala has ranked top among the 10 smart cities of the Northeast.

Besides, the national ranking of Agartala has come up to 56 from 74.

Agartala city is more than 150 years old.

The Agartala Municipality was established during the reign of Maharaja Bir Chandra Manikya (1862–1896) within an area of three square miles having a population of only 875 by a royal proclamation in the last part of 1871.

The iconic Ujjayanta palace was inaugurated more than 102 years earlier from now.

In 1849 the than Maharaja Krishna Chandra Manikya shifted his capital from old Haveli to New Haveli, which is now Agartala.

As per Smart City rankings released in July 2020, Agartala has ranked 56th amongst 100 smart cities in the country, the update came from chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb.

Proud to share that Agartala has ranked top among 10 smart cities of the NE region. The national ranking of Agartala among the 100 Smart Cities has also improved to 56 from 74. The @AGTsmartcity has taken up 80 projects so far with cost of Rs. 1479 cr for overall growth of Capital City,” the chief minister tweeted.

He also appreciated the efforts of all employees and officials under Agartala Smart City Limited for this achievement and hard work.

The rankings of other north-eastern cities are – Namchi, Sikkim (59), Aizwal, Mizoram (75), Kohima, Nagaland (79), Gangtok, Sikkim (80), Guwahati, Assam (83), Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh (89), Shillong, Meghalaya (92), Imphal, Manipur (93) and Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh (98).

The success of Agartala Smart City in speeding up the project sanctioning, tendering and implementation has been appreciated by the secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs during the review of the north-eastern states on July 24 last.

The review meeting was attended by chief secretary Manoj Kumar, secretary Urban Development Kiran Gitte and CEO of Agartala Smart City project Dr Shailesh Kumar Yadav.

The Agartala Smart City has taken up 80 projects with cost of Rs 1479 crore for overall development of the capital city.

Till July 2020, 100 per cent projects have been tendered by the Smart City Mission team.

Work orders have been issued for 54 per cent value of the projects taken up so far.