Steps Taken by Odisha Government for Smart City Mission

Posted by Sameer Khan on February 25th, 2021

In 2015, the Government of India initiated the Smart Cities Mission to develop selected 100 cities of various states as well-equipped and advance cities. In the same context, Odisha picked five cities for the project: Bhubaneswar, Rourkela, Cuttack, Berhampur, and Sambalpur. The center owns the entire project, but the planning blueprint has to be formalized by the State. Hence Odisha has come up with an attractive Smart City plan for the same, and this proposal has won many national and international awards. We will go through the major aspects of the planning.

1. Education and Health

Health and education services are the basic needs of our developing city life. In the new generation, we are looking for eLearning and eHealth services. This requires the involvement of AI, remote monitoring process, learning management system, blockchain, sensors, and more. Hence, when we think of Smart City, we imagine the place when education and health can be accessed by everyone and everywhere.

2. Sanitation and solid waste management

A landfill of garbage does not give Smart City an impression for sure, so the bigger question on the planning table was how to deal with the city's continuous garbage collection. This also requires smart work. Therefore, Odisha is planning for waste to compost, water waste treatment, recycling and reduction of C&D waste, and overall saving energy and fuel. So, Smart waste management involves technological development along with socio-culture development.

3. Urban mobility

Congested narrow roads and heavy traffic has been the downside of urban cities. Smart City Project has planned for smart parking, intelligent traffic management, and integrated multi-modal transport to combat this. This will improve mobility in the Urban cities of Odisha.

4. Water supply

The process of Smart City water distribution has also been elevated to a more systematic and transparent method. There will be the main water station, and the Water Supply Board would direct a specific amount of water to substations. Further, each station will hold enough water for a certain number of the house. Therefore, the water supply remains undisputed, and the water billing is transparent as well.

5. IT connectivity and digitalization

The idea of a Smart City encompasses the idea of ease of connectivity with the world. Our country has embarked on the journey of digitalization, and this is just the beginning. Smart City projects have carefully planned for advance IT connectivity and complete digitalization. This means that there will be better services like the ease of utility bill payment like electricity bill, water bill, and more.

6. Electricity Supply

Installing Smart grids for Smart Electric Supply is one of the ambitious projects of the Indian Government. We face many issues with electricity supply, including inconsistent supply, load shedding in summers, and more. But as we are moving forward, we have seen significant changes. For instance, NESCO bill payment Odisha has made the service so easy to use for the customers. You can simply register and access the transparent window of electricity usage.

7. Housing

Another prominent issue of urban cities is the visible gap between affluent and poor people. The huge area of slums and unavailability of affordable housing is a matter of concern. Therefore, in the Smart City project, it is aimed to provide housing to the marginalized population. Presently Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) project is running to urbanize the slums. This will eventually improve the overall aspects of comfortable living.

8. Sustainable Environment

Unplanned and mushroomed urbanization does more harm than good, and we have seen it in the past. This time, we need to practice sensible sustainable development methods. It includes sustainability in the environment, economic and social dimension. The core of the sustainability efforts lies in the fact that the overall well-being of mankind should consider for a long, without exploiting natural resources. So, Smart City should focus on renewable energy resources instead of conventional fuel sources.  

9. Good Governance

Citizen Service and e-governance are the way forward in Smart City. It is planned for better public information, grievance redressed, and citizen engagement. This also means that all government services can be applied and avail through electronic service delivery. Governance can improve if the department has the medium of full awareness, and Video Crime Monitoring helps the governance e and judgment. E-Governance also encourages citizen participation and works for good on both ends.

10. Safety and Security of Citizens

Smart City is planned to function with smart IoT sensors, emergency devices, video surveillance, control centers, and more.  It will be particularly safer for women, children, and the elderly. Who doesn't want a safe place to live! After all, safety is the core of fearless living.

Conclusion

Among selected 100 Smart Cities Projects, Odisha is home to five cities. Bhubaneswar Town Centre District (BTCD) is involved in planning smart solutions projects, and they have drawn out an advanced blueprint for urbanization and the development of a city mindfully. Here we have listed 10 important aspects of Smart City planning. We hope this blog would have given you insights into all the sections of development for better living.