Having the city beautiful- Chandigarh in the top list of future ‘smart cities’ has raised the expectations of people in the tricity. Well, it may take some more time to turn this dream come true, you can have a complete insight about the smarty city plan here. Read on.
The tag ‘Smart city’ has drawn the attention of citizens, governments and the urban planners worldwide. Following the similar approach, the honorable Prime Minister Narender Modi launched three new urban development plans including Smart Cities Mission, Housing for All and Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT).
For the people of Chandigarh, the real good news is that the city can be the first one to turn into a smart city. Yes, you can smile, it is a rejoicing moment for all.
“The first Indian smart city to be created probably could be Chandigarh. There are satellite cities around Chandigarh which are being created.”
– Arun Jaitley (Finance Minister)
So, what is a ‘Smart City’?
To make it simple, you can consider it as perfect blend of Capital, Sustainability and competitiveness. A smart city proffers its citizens with:
- Good infrastructure
- Appropriate water supply
- Proper sanitation
- Reliable utility services
- Most optimum health care solutions
- Attract national and international investments
There is no single definition for the smart cities, i.e. this single
In short, it aims at offering various citizen centric services in order to make life safe and blissful!
But, Our PM is also there to say something…
It is nothing new. Prime Minister has been stating this before he started with his election campaign. His promise of making 100 smart cities is known to be one of the major pillars in his outstanding win in the elections.
While for most of the countries, the smart city concept starts with effective use of digital technology. But, for Mr. Modi it seems to be centralized around greater investments. According to him, if this opportunity of recognized urbanization had happened 25 years ago, India would have been at par. “But better late than never”, he added. Addressing the private developers, he said that they are well-known to the direction a city will grow. They can build homes accordingly, but what is usually missed out is the infrastructure, which is key for living. “We have to develop models such as walk to work, energy saving and others to improve our cities”, he said.
It is a great news for the entire tricity, that Chandigarh was named among the 100 cities selected by the Central government for its ambitious smart city mission. And yes, Chandigarh is now all set to move a step ahead to grab the smart city tag. As stated by the PM, the smart cities will get ahefty Central grant in the first phase of this project, which the UT administration doesn’t want to miss!
What benefits would Smart City Project bring forth?
1. Education Sector: Chandigarh is well-known to be an education hub. Have a look at some important facts:
- Last year, the student enrolment figure crossed the college population index.
- Although colleges claim to be well equipped, but the laboratories here need to be converted into virtual labs.
- Despite of Panjab University bagging the top position in international platforms, it strives hard for smart classrooms and new hostels.
- In all, there are 107 schools but they lack furniture, techniques and laboratories.
What smart city design includes?
For the education world, the plan will offer:
- Recording of lectures (both, schools and colleges).
- Well- equipped libraries, along with computers to access the previous lectures
- Smart classrooms and virtual laboratories in university.
- Professional courses like Foreign exchange programme.
- Online admission form and fee submission for schools and colleges.
2. Water Supply and Power Supply:
There are no sources to generate electricity. The city gets it from neighboring sources. Similarly, there are a number of changes required for water supply in Chandigarh.
- Currently, the water supply is for 13-15 hours.
- No supply in the afternoon.
- A fine of Rs 10 crore from the defaulters is yet to be collected.
- In summers, people have to face severe power crisis.
What smart city architecture can do?
It will make life much easier here. Check:
- 24/7 water and power availability.
- Smart Pipes along with a wireless processor that detect leakages in real time will be installed.
- Easy access to identify the water usage for every household for MC.
- Implementation of management integrated system and Geographic Information System (GIS).
- Increase in solar generation from 5 MW to 30 MW.
Transport and traffic: Traffic congestion is the rising day by day in Chandigarh. The other problems for a common man includes:
- Inadequate capacity of roads
- Long delays at light-points
- Rising number of vehicles
Also,
- The city needs 400 buses, but currently we have a fleet of 100 low-floor buses.
- Absence of ideal route plans causes problems to commuters.
- Non-availability of running schedule of buses
How smart city defines transport system?
- The traffic lights will be working on the basis of vehicle density.
- Real-time data from roads will help to manage the traffic volume.
- Advanced video monitoring and surveillance systems.
- Real-time information about bus routes.
- GPS integrated control room to update commuters about running time.
The smart city challenge competition has begun. The union urban development ministry has asked the state governments to provide the names by July 31, 2015. Although, it is hard to say whether Chandigarh will be able to grab the first rank, yet this step towards urbanization will prove to be valuable!