QUEEN’S ROAD: With about 800 people moving into Bengaluru everyday, the pressure on public facilities and infrastructure in the city is high.
Who would better understand the need to resolve this crisis that we face than concerned Bangaloreans?
On May 7, United Technologies Corporation (UTC) announced an initiative called ‘Citizens for the City’ and a sustainable urbanisation project called the ‘Neighbourhood Improvement Partnership Challenge.’
The Neighbourhood Improvement Partnership Challenge encourages citizens to come together to resolve civic issues in the areas of mobility, hygiene and sanitation, safety and energy conservation.
The best projects, selected by an eminent jury panel, will share the Citizens for the City Grant, worth Rs 1 crore. The challenge will bring together several organisations involved in solving the city’s civic and urban issues like BBMP and BPAC. UTC will be funding the challenge through a leading non profit organization, United Way of Bengaluru
Chris Rao, Vice President & Country Head, UTC Aerospace Systems, India, said, “Sustainable urbanisation is no longer a buzzword; it is an imperative in urban planning and development. Our endeavor through UTC’s Citizens for the City Campaign is to identify exciting projects that touch urban lives, and make them a reality through technical, financial and logistical support.”
He continued, “In many ways, the challenge urges citizens to think of utilizing existing resources in an optimal way for our immediate needs, keeping in mind needs of the future generation.”
The campaigns surrounding the challenge will include several on-the-ground and digital initiatives to encourage citizens to submit projects and execute them. A panel of jurists will evaluate these campaigns on the basis of identified parameters including community building, innovative solutions, execution quotient and budget planning. Plans will be chosen also for their self sustainability factor after execution.
Chris Rao is certain that this initiative will serve as a platform for all those who have been willing to make a difference to the city and didn’t know how to go about it.
By inviting citizens too into problem-solving roles, the idea is to embed community engagement as a sustainable methodology for bringing change at neighborhood level and as a result tackle many more problems in the city. “We look forward to seeing the entrees for the initiative,” said Rao.
The winning entries will be announced within four months from the launch. The grant will be distributed among the winners who will have the opportunity to ideate, plan and execute projects they feel will make their area sustainable.
Approval and execution of projects will be somewhere between September 2015 to June 2016.
BBMP as a formal partner will be represented in the jury to bring accreditation to proposals. They will have the final say on approving the implementation of projects that earn the grant.
Rao said, “We are hopeful that when various governmental institutions see engaged citizens who want to become part of problem solving, they will work together to ensure outcomes are delivered.”
UTC hopes that this initiative will trigger greater interest among neighbourhoods to participate and improve their environs. Sustainability is a process and this initiative will hopefully lead to bigger efforts in the future.
For more details, log on to www.citizenforthecity.in