₹8,000 Crore for New Cities Unused for 5 Years, Urbanization Dream Stalled

• ₹8,000 crore allocated by the 15th Finance Commission for 8 new cities remains unused for five years.
• The ambitious plan to create new cities to ease population pressure and develop modern infrastructure has not materialized.
• Bureaucratic sluggishness and a complex evaluation process have prevented the finalization of even a single city name from 28 proposals.
• Government strategy is shifting towards renovating existing cities, as building new ones like 'Naya Raipur' proved challenging and costly.
• Other crucial schemes, including air pollution control and public transport (city bus service), also show disappointing progress.

Why It Matters: ₹8,000 crore for new cities lies dormant, highlighting significant failures in urban development and policy implementation.