BENGALURU: United Technology Corporation, an American aerospace major, announced the winners of India’s first-ever Neighbourhood Improvement Partnership Challenge (NIP), an initiative of its ‘Citizens for the City Programme’, on Saturday. In all, 12 winners were felicitated.
Communities in Bengaluru have shown that they are willing to come forward and be solution finders rather than mere critics of the challenges they are confronted with, said Ashok Mirchandani, managing director, Asia-Pacific, United Technologies. “We hope that through our campaign, we have sparked a movement that will see more neighbourhoods come forward and find solutions to some of the most pressing urban challenges,” he added.
Launched in May, the challenge garnered 145 registrations and 86 proposals from across Bengaluru. Of these, 32 were shortlisted.
Each of the winners underwent a review, and the projects that required building and zoning permissions were forwarded to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for approval. The winning projects will be completed within six months.
A team from the Centre for Public Problem Solving (CPPS) and World Resources Institute-India, in conjunction with United Way of Bengaluru (UWBe), Bangalore Political Action Committee (BPAC) and other organisations spearheaded the Challenge.
“The overwhelming response to NIP Challenge demonstrates greater awareness of urban problems at the neighbourhood-level,” said Chris Rao, vice-president and Country Head, UTC Aerospace Systems, India. “We hope the winning projects will become exemplary models.” The winning projects and teams will collectively get nearly `1 crore. The winners will implement projects in the areas of mobility, waste management, public safety, autonomous building, water quality and rejuvenation of public spaces.
The winners include Decora, Indiranagar, Angavikalaru Anandam (Seshadripuram), Enfold Proactive Health Trust (Madiwala), Soma Sundarapalya Neighbourhood Improvement Trust (Soma Sundarapalya), Selco Foundation (Pottery Road), Force Brookfields (Kundalahalli), Ashima Open Homes Owners’ Welfare Association (Whitefield), Welfare League Indiranagar (Indiranagar), Nivasa (Mahadevapura), RISE (HAL 3rd Stage), Team Sanjaynagar and Jwalamukhi
(Sanjaynagar) and Sri Sri Paradise and New Thippasandra Residents (New Thippasandra).