Citizens Should Self-Regulate To Protect The Environment For Building Green Cities

At the 2018 Smart Cities Conclave Ahmedabad, hosted by BW Businessworld, an esteemed panel gathered for a session on Innovative Solutions for Smart Cities. The panel consisted of Chiefs of Municipal Corporations and principal organizations widely known for their services to steer the Smart Cities Mission.

Shobha Srishail Banshetti, Mayor of Solapur Municipal Corporations said that the local governing body is solemnly working on changing the water supply crisis. “Currently, water, road and pavements, and drainage issues are being looked after with utmost attention in Solapur. For this, we need public’s support and patience. The public’s support is a very important aspect to fulfill Prime Minister Modi’s dream of building smart as well as green cities” she said.

As a city’s population plays an important role when working for Smart Cities Mission, Jagdish Patel, Assistant, Surat Municipal Corporation, said, “Since Surat is the 8th largest city in India as per population, we are working majorly on the housing project with nineteen pan city projects.” Reiterating Mayor Shobha’s point and adding a technological aspect, Satyarth Srivastav, Director, GESIA & Adit Microsys, also said that there is a need for public support. “We have implemented AI and chatbots in a couple of Municipal Corporations. Technology can be used to identify red light violations among others. This will also improve the citizen’s behavior,” he said.

Vinod Agarwal, Mayor, Moradabad Municipal Corporation, also shared the development and status of the petal nagri. “Our small city Moradabad is a very clean city, basis the Swachh Bharat Mission. We are very concerned for the nagar’s environment. In lieu of the cleanliness of Ramganga river, 100 percent e-waste treatment is our focused project.” Also, in spite of the commonly faced challenges such as unavailability of technicality and citizen awareness, the mayor mentioned that they have included technology and skill development projects as a part of building a smarter city.

Since environment has to be protected along while building smarter cities, it is important to keep in notice that WHO has said that top 10 polluted cities in the world are all Indian cities. Sudhir Mishra, Environmental Layer, mentioned that pollution is the top issue for the environment while building smart cities. “We have to make people realize that they need to self-regulate to preserve and protect the environment.”