The government has announced its list of first 20 cities to be developed as Smart cities. Making the announcement Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said there are 97 cities in the Smart City Challenge, and the names of the first 20 winners of the competition were announced.

The 20 cities are Bhubaneswar, Pune, Jaipur, Surat,  Kochi, Ahmedabad, Jabalpur, Vishakhapatnam, Solapur, Davangere, Indore,  New Delhi,  Coimbatore,  Kakinada, Belagavi,  Udaipur, Guwahati,  Chennai, Ludhiana and Bhopal.

These cities will be developed to have basic infrastructure through assured water and power supply, sanitation and solid waste management, efficient urban mobility and public transport, IT connectivity, e-governance and citizen participation.

Naidu was addressing about 100 senior officers of Army, Navy, Air Force and civil service, including 25 foreign officials, participating in a course on 'National Security and Strategic Studies' at the National Defence College here