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The Smart City project promises a makeover of Bhubaneswar, but the challenges are many, writes Ratan Pradhan
Bhubaneswar, August 29: With the Centre awarding the Smart City tag to the capital city, denizens are hopeful of guaranteed basic services such as smooth roads, flawless drainage systems and reliable sanitation facilities in the city, apart from a host of high-end modern public services aided by latest technology.
Under the Smart Cities Mission, city life in Bhubaneswar would undergo a sea change with smart solutions being available at one’s doorsteps. Key features of the plan include affordable housing, uninterrupted supply of power and water, security for denizens and robust IT connectivity among others, said officials. Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has a major role to play in the implementation of the Smart
City scheme.
Speaking to Orissa POST, Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena thanked Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and the members of BMC for the capital city’s inclusion in the Smart Cities Mission, and said the civic body is ready to take up the challenges.
“Once the Smart City project is completed, there will be 24X7 water and power supply in the city, and the drainage and sewerage systems will be upgraded to deliver world-class efficiency. The civic body has a comprehensive plan to address the menace of open drains. Much of the details of the project will be discussed at workshops to be organised by the Centre,” said Jena.
Despite the Mayor’s enthusiasm, some urban experts remain sceptical about the Smart City project’s envisioned success. They point at the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), under which `150 crore was sanctioned by the Centre for the makeover of Bhubaneswar in 2008. The outcomes are hardly visible since critical facilities such as water supply, sanitation, waste management, roads and other infrastructure remain mired in problems. Leaking water pipes in the city, for instance, remain a nagging problem, which frequently cause diseases like jaundice and diarrhea. Choked drains and inundated roads are a regular phenomenon during the monsoon. The death of a nine-year-old boy after falling into an open manhole in Nayapalli area brought the lacunae in civic management into sharp focus.
The Smart Cities Mission aims at driving economic growth and improving the quality of life by enabling local area development and harnessing technology for smart outcomes. Area-based development plans will be used to transform a particular area, including slums, into better planned ones, thereby improving the life of the city as a whole. New areas will be developed around the cities in order to accommodate the expanding population in urban areas.
The Centre would sanction `100 crore for each city every year for five years under the scheme. According to emerging plans, waste management has been accorded top priority with special focus on generation of electricity and fuel from waste.
“BMC cannot be blamed for all the chaos the city keeps witnessing. The residents should develop a high level of civic sense matching the needs of a modern state capital aspiring to be a metropolis,” said Prashant Satpathy, a resident of Rasulgarh area in the city. “Now, we are hopeful about the Smart Cities Mission ushering in real, positive change,” he added.
