Union Minister for Urban Development Venkaiah Naidu today inaugurated the regional workshop on smart cities for ten northern states and Gujarat in New Delhi today. Addressing the event Minister said, the central government committed to support the states and urban local bodies with central assistance of over Rs 3 lakh crores for the next five to six years. <br/><br/>This comes out in sharp contrast to the central assistance of only about Rs 36000 crore under JNNURM for 2005 to 2014. He also said, to make a difference to any city it needs coordination between Mayor, Commissioner and the Corporator. In case of Gujarat, Mr Naidu gave clarification about Dahod, he said, it is a smart city but was not included in AMRUT. <br/><br/>This is the first of three such workshops being organized before the smart city nominees and respective states begin the important work of preparation of city level smart city plans. Other workshops will be organized in Hyderabad and Kolkata.<br/> <br/>The workshop will focus on how to prepare the smart city plan, to involve the citizens and leveraging on the unique cultural and economical identity of the city. The event was attended by Mayors and concerned officials from eleven states and union territories.