Herald: The entire smart city (SC) project is about citizen’s participation and feedback. How serious is the feedback in the long run?
Rodrigues: As you know, the SC is a challenge, and there are parametres on which the proposal of Panjim will be evaluated by the Ministry of Urban Development. Panjim has won the first round; we are in the first 100. We have to submit the SC proposal which will get us into either the first 20 or the next 40. SC is not a funding scheme. It’s a base wherein all schemes of the Government of India, all routes of finance are all dovetailed. It will not send the city scurrying around. This SC challenge is asking the city to prepare a proposal of what it wants to do for the next five years.
Herald: The total amount of money that the CCP and government has to spend is more; probably twice the budget that is normally there.
Rodrigues: There is a whole aspect of financing. I can put as many projects as I like in the SC proposal, but I also have to show how these projects will be funded for the next five years. We have reached the stage where we have asked people what they want. We have now zeroed down into how to deliver this and in which area to deliver it. We have chosen a 2 square kilometre area in Panjim and we have another zone, which is a pan-city zone. This would be the proposal. Within this, we will put various schemes, projects and factor them. We are racking our brain over finance. In a couple of days, we will come up with some financing solutions for these projects and definitely it will go to the people.
Herald: How has feedback from the people come in? Has it come through the website or Facebook page? How many people have actually responded to you?
Rodrigues: Feedback and people’s contact have to be inclusive. I have an ImaginePanjimSmart mobile app. If your phone is not smart, I have excluded you. I have an inclusive way of collecting feedback. Website, Facebook page – these are e-connect. We have set up kiosks and manual stations where people can fill up their forms. We have set up a whole secretariat at EDC. Two conferences have been held where people have come and given their feedback. There are various other initiatives. 1,500 student essays were received on ‘My Panjim, Smart Panjim Ideas’. Even a cutting on a newspaper, like a letter to the editor, is feedback for me.
Herald: Have you quantified the sample size and responses that you’ve got and taken that as a percentage of the population of Panjim.
Rodrigues: As I said, whether it is an e-form or an e-mail or SMS or the forms, the tabulation and compilation is being done at my war zone. We have just another week to close this process of public consultation. We will put up all these names, e-mail IDs, etc. I can also go on the quality of feedback. Just for the sake of feedback, people may just fill a form or send an SMS that doesn’t mean anything. I am very glad to tell you that across board, for pan-city initiatives, people have said the same thing: urban mobility, that means a round robin system of buses for Panjim, use of waterways, use of pedestrian roads and public bike-sharing systems. This is what I call smart mobility. This is the biggest deficit in Panjim. Next in line come solid waste management, and after that comes e-governance.
Herald: The challenge lies in the fact that you need infrastructure to support this. Are there any broad responses to this?
Rodrigues: We had done a huge exercise a year ago and a holistic master plan of Panjim was designed. Today, everything that happens in Panjim should fit into this masterplan. A tremendous connect with the people was done.
Herald: There was the holistic development plan, the city sanitation plan, the comprehensive mobility plan, the city development plan, and the Panjim solar city masterplan.
Rodrigues: The entire smart city proposal is coming from these plans. Imagine if I had no plans. I would be nowhere in designing the smart city proposal. The proposal is a compilation of data that the city has. Otherwise you cannot do any plan in 45 days. The city which does not have prepared reports loses.
Herald: Coming to a contentious issue: the St Inez Creek. How can we have a city-regeneration festival without looking into the biggest problem affecting the city.
Rodrigues: I agree that the St Inez Creek is a festering wound on the surface of Panjim. Let us start with the creek irrespective of anything and let us find the funds for it through any scheme. JNNURM funds were sanctioned for it, but unfortunately they came at the last moment. The new government brought out new schemes and guidelines. The JNNURM scheme has been bifurcated into various schemes. Besides, it is very difficult to clean the creek with hutments around and toilets directly onto the creek. We said that five metres around the creek has to be frozen. We have given it in writing to the planning authorities. If we cannot do this, then forget about the creek. We have to take a call on these hutments. We are barricading these five-metres with high-sheet walls wherever it is available. There are initiatives from the pollution control board to aerate the creek; it is in the final stages of implementation.
