Envisaging Chandigarh as the Smart City, Ideal City

The Smart City, The city with widening horizons, the city beautiful with smart citizens glows with the Smart City Campaign Awareness programs initiated by the Chandigarh Administration along with the municipal corporation. Chandigarh the Smart city is recognized by the Confidence in the Smart citizens of this city and the trust of the people to live a life of comfort & Luxury.

To build this aura of the perfect and dynamic Chandigarh, the place where each citizen is secure, contended & relaxed, the Smart city campaign was divided in phases and kicked off on 15^th October. Various activities were organized by the Chandigarh Administration in association with the Municipal Corporation Chandigarh like

• Flash Mob in sector 17 creating awareness of the Chandigarh Smart City involving masses with various dance troupes and musical extravaganza suggesting Chandigarh as the happiest city, the aesthetic lifestyle, the Smart living.
• Flashy Kiosks showcasing the City‘s Smartness in every sphere, highlighting the city‘s uniqueness, the idealism, and the city‘s intricate elegance
• Nukad Natak organized in sectors 29, 34, 35,36,37,38 all residential areas to create awareness, to bring out the visions and aspirations of people living in the city, to connect with each one’s sentiments as a smart citizen of Chandigarh. These small skits enabled the residentsto understand the philosophy of the city‘s positives and the involvement of people for the bright future of the city.

From 27& 31stOctober: Activities targeted towards enhancing image of the City Beautiful amongst the citizens for complete engagement of them in making this city the Smart city, envisioning a Clear Picture.

• Flash Mob in sector 17 attracting the attention of people from all age groups and from different strata of society gathered to engulf the thoughts and goals of the citizens for a Smart City, the city where all facilities are available and smart education, smart technology, smart infrastructure, and smart governance prevails.
• On 31st in sectors 34, 35, 36 Nukad Natakas were organized to capture the hearts of the people to feel the Pulse of this Smart city Chandigarh with a clean Green environment.
• On 31 and 2 October sector 11 (GCG College), 42(GCG College), 36 (MCM DAV College) 46 (Government College) 32 (Sanatan Dharam College) kiosks were placed to grab the attention of the youth, the generation next who would voice their visions of a beautiful city chandigarh, of a smart city where they take pride in living and look forward to a dynamic, vibrant Chandigarh in future.
• Various views, face to face interactions with students was done to understand their vision for chandigarh, their appeal to the city residents, their gratitude for the city, their opinions of raising the city standards, their suggestions for improving the living standards in the city.

Smart City Walkathon on 3rd November – Chandigarh of their Dreams was the highlight.

Chandigarh is on a mission to be India’s leading smart city to raise awareness among people and get ideas from city residents; UT administration along with MC organized a walkathon on 3rd November 2015 for ‘Chandigarh Smart City’ mission at Sukhna Lake. The path for the walk was from Sukhna Lake to Bougainvillea Garden in sector 3 and back. Thousands of people including school children participated in the walk with enthusiasm and shared their ideas to make Chandigarh a smart city.The walk was flagged off by Sh. Vijay Kumar Dev, IAS, Adviser to the Administrator, Chandigarh &other senior officers, councilors of MC, and hundreds of students from various schools & colleges have participated in the Walk.

During the event a Smart City Flash Mob was also organized by a famous group of dancers from city.

The main attraction was the “Smart City Canvas” (200 ft wall) installed for sharing/drawing & writing Smart ideas of the citizens of Chandigarh. Participants sketched/shared their Smart ideas on the wall with wonderful slogans. Some special attractive art work has been crafted by Prof. Ravinder Sharma & his team of students from Arts College Sector 10 Chandigarh.

While addressing the participants, Adviser Sh. Vijay Dev said that one cannot become Smart with just merely wearing smart clothes. For a good personality and to become really smart, everybody needs a balance of body, mind & soul, so is the case with the City. Every citizen will have to be smart and suggest their requirements & local priorities. It is up to them to decide what type of the Smart city they are envisaging.

The idea of Smart City in the city has started taking the shape to turn dream into reality. This will certainly ameliorate the living conditions of the people and they will feel proud of the city beautiful.

The Chandigarh Administration has already uploaded the draft document vision and sub goals Chandigarh an ideal city in mygov.in received good response from the citizens. The citizens of Chandigarh can share their views & perspective on the link https://mygov.in/group-issue/draft-document-vision-and-sub-goals-chandigarh-ideal-city/. The citizens can now also poll on the areas they want to develop as smart while mentioning their biggest concerns in that area that they want the administration to focus on https://secure.mygov.in/group-poll/chandigarh-poll-smart-solutions-area-greenfield-development/

Chandigarh smart city mission is not just a mission of the government but it is a collective effort of everyone residing in Chandigarh. The smart city mission has got an excellent response from all walks of life and we are hoping see Chandigarh as an ideal city or maybe the first smart city of India in the near future.