Mangaluru: Citizens’ participation vital for smart city, says DC

Mangaluru, Sep 30: Deputy Commissioner A.B. Ibrahim has said that that citizens’ participation in evolving the Mangaluru smart city concept is vital.

They can give the feedback at www.mygov.in. So far, 320 feedbacks have been received, of which 109 had come to the email id: [email protected].

The feedbacks would help the administration choose a proposal to bring Mangaluru under the top 20 cities category during the first year of the project, he said.

The administration would undertake a massive public awareness campaign on this — distributing pamphlets to every household, sending messages on mobile phones, among other means. The best vision statement would get Rs. 1 lakh reward, he said.

A public interaction on the topic would be held at 5 p.m. on October 4 at the Mini Vidhana Soudha to elicit views from the public. Consultant Dilip Kumar said the administration would need the feedback to prepare the report on the smart city project.

He said a smart city uses digital technologies or information and communication technologies to enhance quality and performance of urban services as well as to reduce costs and resource consumption. Sectors that include in city technology are government services, transport and traffic management, energy, healthcare, water and waste. Smart city applications are developed with the goal of improving the management of urban workflows and allowing for real-time responses to challenges.

District in-charge Minister B. Ramanath Rai said Mangaluru needs to be in the list of the first 20 cities to be developed as smart cities and every effort should be made to achieve the goal. He said the State and Union governments would pay Rs. 100 crore each every year for five years for the development of the city.