Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Solve basic problems before constructing smart cities' that was published in Newsband

Solve basic problems before constructing smart cities

Will the Smart Cities Mission transform urban life in the agglomerations that enter the elite club? There are 90 cities in the list. Most of them seek funds for affordable housing, new schools and hospitals, and redesign of roads. Any serious attempt at improving the quality of life in cities would depend on how governments approach data. It would be smart, for instance, to use sensors to estimate the flow of vehicles and pedestrians, and create smartphone applications for the public to report on a variety of parameters. Sensors installed on Chicago streets let people download the raw data on air quality, transport, pedestrian movement and standing water.

But how do you make a city smart that doesn't even have basic amenities like drainage, foot path, sufficient public transport, roads. If there are apartment buildings without drainage connected to the public system and drainage lakes found on roads, and this is the state of some cities, how will you make them smart? Without basics, there is no smart.

Smart city projects are depending on misplaced priorities. The basic problems of sanitation and public transport are being untouched. Mere cosmetic decoration will not yield good results. Government should at least bring up the completion of one smart city as quickly as possible. This would help in assessing the various parameters for fast construction of other smart cities, rather than adding new ones to the list.

For making their city smart its residents have to be aware of the fact that their city needs to be clean first and foremost. And in order to achieve that, they must consider their city as their own home. If they do that, no one can prevent the city from becoming smart.

Get into any Transport system: Buses on roads; Metros; Local Trains. It would be observed, without exception, that they would all be congested, over-crowded, and often not running on time as promised. Although various provisions to support the Public that are connected with these services are supposed to be delivered with promptness, courtesy and improved convenience - nothing of this would be seen happening. Then, let us see other Services like Water, Electricity, Road Connectivity, Drainage/ Sanitation - etc etc - the list would go on. One wonders how the Government, with no improvements in current facilities and services in any city (any city) all over India, would redesign some of them as so-called "Smart Cities". Either it’s definitely a case of blind leading the blind or the Public are being hoodwinked with all blah-blah talks and nothing else. The net result is absolute waste of Public money, purloining a part of the same through corruption. India needs Smart Villages - not Cities

Initiating smart cities must be followed by a mission to collect needed data on transport, pollution, existing neatness status of the city, current scenario in disaster management and the like. A smart city should be pollution free and have walkability and mobility with reliable civic services rather than creation of techno based structures.