Smart cities to have digital "brain centres": Union Housing and Urban Affairs Secretary Durga Shanker Mishra

Upcoming Smart Cities shall now go to a new level of monitoring and delivery of civic services through Digitally Integrated Central Command and Control Centres, Union Housing and Urban Affairs Secretary Durga Shanker Mishra said in Mumbai on Friday. [caption id=“attachment_4072541” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Image: Digital Reality[/caption] These centres would serve as the ‘brain centres’ of the Smart Cities for ensuring effective coordination in the functioning of various agencies of urban local bodies, thereby resulting in improved services delivery to the citizens. He said these centres, based on a host sensor connected to a central server, would function as the eyes and ears of the cities by monitoring garbage collection and its transportation, filling and emptying of garbage bins, traffic violations and noise pollution. Samir Sharma, National Mission Director, Smart City Mission, said such centres were under implementation in Pune, Nagpur, Surat, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Jaipur, Raipur, Naya Raipur, Bhubaneshwar, Visakhapatnam and Kakinada. The centres have already become partly operational in Pune and Nagpur while bidding processes for 23 other cities has been completed for setting up such centres. Both officials were addressing a day-long ‘Learning and Experience Workshop on Digitally Integrated Command and Control Centres under Smart City Mission’. Mishra urged the cities concerned to set up these centres at the earliest to enable citizens to derive their benefits.