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Ranked first in the second round of selection of 13 smart cities, Lucknow smart city project commenced from 2016 with the formation of Lucknow smart city limited, the special purpose vehicle (SPV).Within four years of the launch of smart city mission, Lucknow is in the progress of transforming the art city to smart city, writes Sreetama Datta Roy and Arpit Gupta of Elets News Network (ENN).

Lucknow, the City of Nawabs is rapidly transforming towards a Smart City with focus towards a sustainable urban development. Ranked first in the second round of selection of 13 Smart Cities, Lucknow Smart City project commenced from 2016 with the formation of Lucknow Smart City Limited, the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV).

With a primary aim to transform the Art City to Smart City, the SPV identified the potential areas of challenge and addressed the issues on a priority basis. Darashaw & Co. Pvt. Ltd., the official consultant of the Lucknow Smart City Limited created an action plan which was executed by the city officials and urban planners.

The Lucknow Smart City not only helps in developing the city’s infrastructure, but the focus is on a sustainable and all inclusive development plan.

Four pillars of Lucknow Smart City – The Strategic Plan

The four pillars on which the base of Lucknow Smart City’s strategic plan is laid are:

Jeevant Lucknow (Livable Lucknow): Providing better and sustainable infrastructure facilities to citizens.

Sugam Lucknow (Mobility Lucknow): Improvising the new age transport and mobility factorising the day-to-day life of citizens through technologically enhanced Integrated Traffic Management System (ITMS), Smart Mobility Solutions among others.

Swachh Lucknow (Clean Lucknow): Improving health, hygiene and sanitation practices for maintaining the wellness quotient for city’s citizens.

Samruddh Lucknow (Prosperous Lucknow): Ensuring prosperity through leveraging on the historic city’s heritage, culture, handicraft, cuisine and connectivity to develop tourism which would further facilitate direct or indirect employment.

Describing further on the smart mobility systems planned in the city, Dr Indramani Tripathi, Municipal Commissioner, Lucknow Municipal Corporation & Chief Executive Officer, Lucknow Smart City Limited says, “The ITMS would enable junction improvement, intelligent traffic signals using traffic sensors. There is a provision of variable message signs, pelican crossing, augmentation on and strengthening of the existing command centre.”

He also adds, “There are smart solutions for existing parking spaces, an electronic ticketing system and ICT for city bus services. There is also provision for a GPS-based bus tracking system (automatic vehicle tracking system), CCTV cameras on board, on board display panels, automatic fare collection system and bus operation command centre, smart bus shelters, passenger information system, ticket vending machine and water ATMs.”

Innovative measures introduced for transforming Art City to Smart City

According to the Lucknow Smart City Limited CEO, a number of projects are underway which contributes towards the vision of the Lucknow Smart City. The projects are classified into three categories based on the means of finance, which are Smart City Mission only (SCM), Public Private Partnership (PPP) and Convergence.

The projects which have already been completed and implemented are based on IT/ICT, waste management, power generation, energy conservation among others.

IT & ICT Innovations by Lucknow Smart City

WiFi Hotspots – Under the complete SCM projects, Lucknow Smart City Limited has installed WiFi hotspots across areas like Jhandewala Park Aminadab, Kargil Shaheed Park, Jhandi Park, Lal Bagh, Butler Park, Rampal Singh Park and Gandhi Setu to Ambedkar Setu, River Front.

ICT for Bus Services – Within this project, GPS devices have been installed in all the buses of the city. The implementation of the ICT solution software has been made to improve the quality of transportation services. This further facilitates access to realtime arrival information to commuters. Lucknow Smart City Limited has installed City Bus App ‘CHALO’ in January this year.

The One Lucknow Unified Smart Mobility Card enables citizens to use a single card at all the mobility locations including City Bus, Metro and City Parking etc. Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation has introduced unified mobility card for metro services which is integrated to services of Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) and Lucknow City Transport Services Limited (LCTSL).

One Lucknow Unified Smart Mobility Card – The One Lucknow Unified Smart Mobility Card enables citizens to use a single card at all the mobility locations including City Bus, Metro and City Parking etc. Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation has introduced unified mobility card for metro services which is integrated to services of Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) and Lucknow City Transport Services Limited (LCTSL).

Safety and Surveillance Measures – Within this project, PTZ and CCTV cameras are installed across the city under the flagship project ‘Drishti’. “One PTZ camera and five CCTV cameras have installed in ABD area. Further SP MCR had identified 10 locations of which one falls in ABD area and sent to Reliance for installation of cameras free of cost,” states Lucknow Smart City Limited.

Waste Management Initiatives

Integrated Solid Waste Management System – Under this project, door-todoor collection of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), Secondary Waste collection from designated points, Transportation of MSW from secondary collection points to Process Plant, O&M of Process Plant to produce Compost & RDF and setting up a 15 MW Waste-to-Energy Plant using RDF as fuel are enabled.

Portable Compactor Transfer Station (PCTS) – A Portable Compactor is an integral Unit installed on street corners for localised garbage collection, comprising of a Compactor and a Container Body Mounted on a frame with rollers and is designed to be transported by specially designed Hook Loader Unit, which is driven to the dumping ground/processing plant for discharge of compacted garbage.

Waste ATMs – In an innovative measure, the Lucknow Municipal Corporation has installed Waste ATMs in eight locations across the city where people can deposit trash in the designated green and white kiosks and get Re 1 per plastic bottle, Rs 2 for a glass bottle, 50 paisa for a can and 20 paisa per wrapper, paper/cups.

Power Generation

Roof Top Solar Panel – This project envisages installing 178 KW roof top solar power plant at Veerangana Avanti Bai Women Hospital and selling the power generated to the hospital at a tariff of Rs 3.91 per unit.

Energy Efficient Street Lighting – Installation of energy efficient street lighting is managed based on real time requirement of light and automated controls that make adjustments based on conditions such as occupancy or daylight availability. The smart project also does real time tracking and management of street lights, automatic lighting and adjustment based on human presence and delivers automatic status updates or failure alerts to remote servers.

Projects in Pipeline

There are several projects in pipeline which are either in progress of tenders have been afloat. Some such projects are Integrated Traffic Management System (ITMS), Smart Parking, Smart Metering, improving sewerage and drainage systems, restoration of heritage building to name a few.

The Lucknow Smart City Limited and Lucknow Municipal Corporation are analysing each project in pipeline and coming up with tentative timelines.

Way Forward towards a Smart yet Sustainable Lucknow

According to Sanyukta Bhatia, Mayor, Lucknow, while the Government is being instrumental in implementing policies and plans towards Smart City Mission and has launched campaigns like Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, it is for the citizens to maintain a clean and sustainable ecosystem. She emphasised that the awareness should be there within the people and the zeal to keep the city clean and beautiful should be within the very conscience of the people. “We aim towards an all inclusive development and without the cooperation of all citizens, we cannot achieve our goal,” Bhatia says.

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