A successful 10-year mission

I must admit that I was taken aback by news reports of the Smart City Mission ending this year It took me back to that glorious day in May 2014 when the honourable erudite most intelligent Indian amongst us announced the building of 100 cities that would all boast astounding connectivity and communication capabilities They were scheduled to be built within the following five years but naturally took five more The delay couldnrsquot have been unexpectedThen again when I looked around me and asked family and friends about the cities they lived in I realised the mission had to end because there was little left to improve The Smart Cities are already here all around us just not where we liveThere were those who questioned the mission from the start and are now busy writing it off as a failure but that is only because they keep missing the wood for the trees It is important for us to remember what was promised though all those depressing years ago when India had a lot more trees and the rupee was at a horrifying 58 to the dollar Our Smart Cities were all about connectivity and using ITenabled services that would transform every aspect of our lives Be honest and ask yourself if that hasnrsquot happened yetTo be fair there were a few cynics who wanted to know how or why this was to be prioritised over fundamental services that were still missing They wanted to know why the government would focus on optical fibre networks when roads hospitals and toilets were still to be built across much of the country I dismissed those arguments at the time because I could always see the bigger pictureWhat the cynics failed to understand was that this was India 20 Here it isnrsquot infrastructure that matters itrsquos influencers I realised even then that connectivity would empower residents of these Smart Cities They would all start to tweet about missing roads and toilets click selfies with appropriate hashtags MoreHospitalsPlease MissingTeachers FreeMealsForPublicSchools etc and broadcast footage of potholes to spur government agencies into action I saw what a Smart City really meant residents smart enough to talk about what their cities didnrsquot possess It was another genius move or as they say in Smart CitySpeak a lsquomasterstrokersquoThen there was all that talk of AreaBased Development another key component of the mission that focused on specific zones within select cities This was all about redevelopment and lsquogreenfield projectsrsquo commonly used to describe new systems structures or technologies that arenrsquot constrained by existing infrastructure or legacy systemsIf the mission has ended it implies that there are surprises in store for anyone who ventures beyond better known cities and towns Perhaps just a few kilometres from Pune Amritsar or Madurai are First World pockets of advanced technology where waste is segregated electricity and running water are uninterrupted and everything runs smoothly online Perhaps we just havenrsquot stepped outside our comfort zones enough to find these developed wonders just beyond the horizonI do have one small question about money Letrsquos all agree that these Smart Cities now exist even if not many of us have seen them yet Letrsquos assume the 25 lakh villages that were supposed to be linked via broadband cable are now enjoying unlimited WiFi My query involves receipts and where one must go to find bills for these magical services After all whenever someone adds the term lsquosmart solutionsrsquo to a government proposal it usually means lsquoexpensive but good for PRrsquo I tried looking for details about what was promised compared to what was delivered and all I could find was a clock that cost the Bihar Sharif Smart City board a reported R20 lakh to build Surely I thought there must be more to show and tell after a decade of work Someone somewhere must have photographic evidence or at least a PowerPoint presentation detailing everything that has been accomplished since 2014 Not everything can be as mysterious as the Gujarat Model can itUntil proof turns up I continue holding on to the belief that just because we havenrsquot seen a Smart City doesnrsquot mean they donrsquot existThey probably just need lastminute touches which is why it is heartening to note that a delegation from Moscow is presenting innovative urban technologies including ecotechnologies to the Indian government After all everyone knows that if therersquos one country capable of building Smarter Cities than India itrsquos RussiaWhen he isnrsquot ranting about all things Mumbai Lindsay Pereira can be almost sweet He tweets lindsaypereiraSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomatOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params