Thiruvananthapuram corproation's smart city ball now in Centre's court

Thiruvananthapuram: Thiruvananthapuram corproation’s smart city proposal has been submitted to the central government. The final project envisions a Thiruvananthapuram which takes care of heritage conservation, is socially inclusive and has infrastructure development. The process of finalising the project lasted for over six months, and the first few months were dedicated to collecting suggestions from city residents, experts from various fields and association representatives.

The process in itself, because of the people’s participation gave Thiruvananthapuram an edge over other smart cities, according to Mayor V K Prasanth. “There is a 99 per cent chance that Thiruvananthapuram’s proposal will be chosen, as we have followed all the norms stipulated by the government, with zeal. The proposal is strong because it is practical, and people’s participation has been great,” he says. Through ward committee meetings, more than 20,000 people submitted their ideas for a smart city, and over 1.54,000 people voted to choose a proposal. “Ours is the only city which used Electronic Voting Machines to choose the proposals,” Prasanth says.

The proposal was further fine-tuned with the help of a consultant, Infrastructure Development Corporation (Karnataka) Limited (IDeCK), A smart city team which included an urban planner, social science graduate and an electronics engineer among others were brought on board. A panel of technical experts from various fields was appointed. Around mid-March, the proposal was approved by the council. It underwent further fine-tuning by the State-level High Powered Committee headed by Chief Secretary S M Vijayanandan, who suggested ideas to make it more socially inclusive. Corporation Secretary Narasimhugari T L Reddy flew to New Delhi on Thursday, and submitted the document at the Ministry of Urban Affairs on Friday.