The Centre on Thursday declared the names of 98 cities and towns selected for development as smart cities. The aspirants cities were selected by the States and Union Territories on the parametres set by the Centre. <br/><br/>Announcing the list in New Delhi, Union Urban Development Minister, M Venkaiah Naidu said, it include 13 cities from Uttar Pradesh, 12 from Tamil Nadu, 10 from Maharashtra, 7 from Madhya Pradesh, 3 each from Bihar and Andhra Pradesh. <br/><br/>All other states have also got one or two cities for the purpose. He said, out of these 98 cities, 24 are capital cities, 24 are business and industrial centres, 18 are of cultural and tourism importance, 5 are port cities and three are educational and healthcare hubs. <br/><br/>Mr Naidu said, nine capital cities including Patna, Shimla, Bengaluru, Daman, Kolkata did not find place for smart city development. He informed, two more cities will be announced in due course since the Government of Jammu and Kashmir sought more time to firm up their choice and there was tie between Meerut and Raibarelly in Uttar Pradesh.<br/><br/>Centre will release two crore rupees each for the cities for the preparation of the smart city plan in the next few days. The prime motive of the mission is to enhance urban life. State and union territories and urban local bodies have an important role to play in the implementation of Smart City Mission. <br/><br/>98 cities selected under Smart City Mission have a population of about 13 crore accounting for over 35 per cent of the country's urban population. Central government will give financial support to the Mission to the extent of 48,000 crores rupees over next five years, of which two hundred crore rupees will be released to every city during the first year.