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Sustainable Smart Cities conference- M’luru edition inaugurated

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Mangaluru: The 2nd Sustainable Smart Cities India 2015 Mangaluru Edition opened today at the Dr. TMA Pai International Convention Centre. The two-day international conference is organized by Mangalore City Corporation in association with Nispana Innovative Platforms, a global business company which has its headquarters in Bengaluru.
smartcity1The conference also features Manipal Group as co-hosts and the Association of Civil Engineers (India), Smart City India Foundation and CREDAI Mangaluru as supporting partners.

The conference was inaugurated by the Deputy Mayor of MCC Purushotham Chitrapura, Commissioner of MCC Dr. H N Gopalakrishna and Pro-Chancellor of Manipal University H S Ballal, by cutting the ribbon and lighting a traditional lamp in the presence of other distinguished guests and personalities.

A B Ibrahim, Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada district, in his presentation ‘Envisioning Mangaluru as Smart City’, said that Mangaluru is well known for having  a rich and long history of more than 2000 years which makes its citizens feel proud.

“Mangaluru has been an important landmark for trading on the West coast of the country since times of the Greeks, Arabs, Portuguese, and British and now to the present. Mangaluru already has the qualities to be selected in the first phase of the smart City Challenge. It has entrepreneurship, major Nationalized banks, hospitals and educational institutions that can rival even the cities of advanced countries. Our city is one among the few cities in the world to have eight medical colleges within the city”, he added.

“All these factors play in favor to make Mangaluru a smart city, and make it a benchmark for other cities in the country”, he added.

The DC, speaking on the democratic setup, said that while making Mangaluru a smart city is good, there are also concerns that have to be dealt with during this process. “The smart city project should not let down the poor. It should not be a project for just the industrialists, builders, etc. It should involve all stakeholders/people of the city and they should also get benefited out of it. Ward committees need to be formed so that there is regular interaction with the common man. Today there is a kind of ‘urban mafia’ which hijacks the city’s development; this should not happen”.

“A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) has been proposed for smart cities. The SPV does not take into account the people’s aspiration. All aspirations of the people must be involved and these aspirations should be fulfilled. Regular and timely interaction with the citizens should take place, and their problems should be addressed.” said DC Ibrahim.

Dr. Ravindra from Smart Cities Foundation spoke about proactive policy formulation for smart cities. He said that ever since the Smart City mission was announced, there has been a big buzz in the country.

“The main advantage of Mangaluru is that it has smart people. There is a lot of enthusiasm among the people and everyone is competing to list in the first 20 cities. The education here has improved a lot, even in rural areas. This makes Mangaluru a natural choice, but choices are not made naturally for this mission. There is a certain procedure, fixed criteria and standards that a city needs to meet to get selected. Administration is also an important factor since unless there is a good administration, there cannot be development”, he said.

To make the common man understand the meaning of a smart city, there was a contest arranged and the jury has given an equivalent Kannada term for a smart city as “Samartha Nagara” – which means it reflects the spirit of a smart city, a city that is able and efficient in all aspects like infrastructure, mobility of transport, education, livability.

Deputy Mayor Purushotham Chitrapur released a Smart City primer created by Dr Ravindra to educate the masses about smart city.

R K Misra from the Center for Smart Cities presented the topic “Strategic plan for developing Tier II cities as smart cities” while the “Tel Aviv Smart City strategies” was presented by Director of Tel Aviv Yafo Municipality Gideon Schmerling. P V K Rameshwar from Shilanayas Design Consultants spoke about riverfront area based development. The panel discussion on “Roadmap for Mangaluru as a smart city” had huge participation from all the attendees. More than 600 people witnessed visionary presentations from renowned national and international experts.

A Swachh Pledge was taken by the gathering to keep the city clean and spread the message of cleanliness. Mementos were presented to the dignitaries. MCC Joint Commissioner Gokuldas Naik delivered the vote of thanks.

The huge gathering also featured solutions showcased by technology providers like Supreme, TUV Rheiniand, Blue Star, EnvOne Technologies.

This was also by far the biggest gathering in Mangaluru comprising of 100 officials from the Mangaluru City Corporation, 50 officials from CREDAI Mangaluru and others from government officials, MLA’s, Commissioners, Mayors, District Municipal bodies, policy makers, industrialists, students, association members and varied participants from different parts of the country like the Gandhinagar Municipal Council, the Tumakuru Municipal Corporation, etc.

Sustainable Smart Cities conference- M’luru edition inaugurated
Sustainable Smart Cities conference- M’luru edition inaugurated
Sustainable Smart Cities conference- M’luru edition inaugurated
Sustainable Smart Cities conference- M’luru edition inaugurated
Sustainable Smart Cities conference- M’luru edition inaugurated

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