Bhopal: In a major step towards realising the Centre’s smart city mission (SCM), the Madhya Pradesh government on Tuesday launched the country’s first cloud-based Integrated Control and Command Centre (ICCC) for all seven smart cities of the state in Bhopal. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and union minister for housing and urban affairs Hardeep Singh Puri inaugurated the centre of the Bhopal Smart City Development Corporation Limited (BSCDCL).
The ICCC, installed in a building in Barkheda area of the state capital, would enable the authorities to monitor the status of various smart civic amenities in real-time through the sensors connected to it. Bhopal, Indore, Ujjain, Gwalior, Jabalpur, Satna, and Sagar are the seven smart cities under SCM in Madhya Pradesh. Chouhan and Puri also inaugurated the first “Apex Conference for the CEOs” of smart cities. The seminar is being attended by 77 CEOs.
“Madhya Pradesh has now come out from the category of BIMARU states. The growth of the state remained in two digits. The state has recorded the highest growth in agriculture in the country,” claimed Chouhan. He said that if all the smart cities CEOs are determined then the cities will undergo massive change. Chouhan said that youth is full of talent and that they only need support for which the incubation center of the Bhopal smart city will be of great help.
Lavishing praises on the ICCC, the union minister said that the ambience here makes him feel like he was visiting USA’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). He said ICCC enables the government to remotely manage and control various citizen services like smart lighting, smart parking, smart traffic and transport, waste management, water supply etc. through a single platform, which he said would save time and money of the government by providing an interface to the citizens.
“The government can take pro-active measures and informed decisions on the basis of the data on a single dashboard. This system would control street lights, parking lights, parking, traffic (including violations and congestions), waste management, water supply etc. through sensors,” he added. He said that the concept of issuing online challan through cloud based system to two-wheelers riding sans helmet is unique.
In the smart cities the security of women will be the top priority, said Puri, claiming that instances of crime against women have declined due to availability of technology. “ICCC would integrate a multitude of citizens’ services applications and sensors running across selected cities of Madhya Pradesh,” HPE Managing Director (India) Som Satsangi said. He said ICCC is the first such centre in the country developed with future-focused vision.
Satsangi said the command centre would also help in ensuring the safety of women and children. BSCDCL Chief Executive Officer Chandramauli Shukla said, “Our vision to create India’s first cloud-based ICCC in Madhya Pradesh is driven by a future-focused vision for our cities and citizens.”