New Delhi: Indore, the economic capital of Madhya Pradesh, and Surat in Gujarat have been jointly selected as the smartest cities of the year 2020. The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has announced the winners of the India Smart Cities Awards Contest (ISAC) 2020 at an online event yesterday. Uttar Pradesh has been ranked first in the country in the category of states. While Madhya Pradesh finished second and Tamil Nadu third in the list. This is the first time that states have also been given awards based on the status of smart cities in their country.

Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and Ministry Secretary Durga Shankar Mishra have announced the awards. Indore and Surat have been declared joint winners of the Smart Cities Award 2020. These winners have been selected on the basis of executive, culture, environment, sanitation, economy, water management and urban mobility of cities. Surat was declared the winner of the competition in 2019.

The ministry has also announced the names of the top cities in the country working in better and new ways against the corona epidemic. Kalyan and Dombivali from Maharashtra and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh have been jointly declared winners in this category of 'Covid Innovation'. The Ministry has announced the awards on the sixth anniversary of Smart Cities Mission (SCM), Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U).

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