Participants suggest common solution for making Smart Cities

NEW DELHI, July 2: "Mera Sahar mera sapna" competition which was organised by the Union Urban Development Ministry saw a large number of participants participating and suggesting common measures such as 'waste to wealth', 'recycling of water' and 'sustainable energy' to develop cities as smart cities. The aim of the competition was to encourage citizens to contribute their ideas and solutions for addressing challenges faced by Indian cities. The format posed 14 questions related to city-level challenges, possible solutions and innovative ideas with a limit of 250 words to answer each question. The competition ran from June 15 to June 20, 2015 and the response was good as within five days, the website received over 1000 posts across the three different categories. By the end of the week there were 1733 submissions. A strong and consistent theme in the entries in "Common Solutions for all Cities" suggested that citizens want their cities to prioritise 'waste to wealth', 'recycling of water' and 'sustainable energy'. The participants also wanted to reduce the time required for delivering public services, a citizen charter with specific turn-around times or at the very least letting people know the exact status of their request (for birth certificates, registration of property, renewal of licenses were some of the challenges that people enthusiastically addressed in the category focused on IT for better governance. Shravan Shankar, a consultant in sustainable development got the first prize for suggesting integrated multi-modal transport, renewable energy and treatment of waste water for all cities as smart solution for development of smart cities across the country. "I am privileged to get honours and recognition at the national level. More so for Smart City which is fundamental requirement for India's development," Shankar told PTI. Shankar was selected among 694 entries in common solution category and has received Rs 40,000 cash award for his suggestion on common solution for all cities in the Smart City category. He has mentioned Helsinki as one of the most successful stories in the Smart City category and wanted the system to be replicated here. The Urban Development Ministry has organised the competition in collaboration with MyGov and the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA). In the area of traffic management, a significant number of entries suggested that car ownership should be restricted on the basis of households.