HYDERABAD: Hyderabad is all set to host an international conference on smart cities in July. Organised by the state government, the conference is expected to be attended by mayors of around 500 cities from different countries, IT minister KT Rama Rao has said. “It will be a good platform for all the cities to share their best practices in urban development with other cities,” he said.
The minister was delivering the keynote address at a conference on ‘Smart city initiative’ by the Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), Hyderabad chapter and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) here on Monday. He said, the upcoming smart cities in Telangana will be developed on the lines of developed smart cities like Barcelona and Singapore City.
However, the minister felt, best practices from other cities have to be customised according to our requirements. He advised the industrialists to keep this factor in mind when they design products.
Extending support to the start-up companies, Rao invited them to take part in Telangana government’s incubation centre ‘T-Hub’, which will soon be operational.
Jayesh Ranjan, secretary, department of IT, who was also present at the conference shared some of the upcoming smart initiatives by the state government. He said around 316 services of MeeSeva portal will be available on a mobile application. This App will provide access to several government welfare schemes on mobile phones. The FICCI and TiE have been conducting a series of conferences and workshops on ‘Smart solutions for smart societies’ for the past few months.
Focusing on few key areas like health, energy, mobility, education and environment, the conferences are intended to bring the policy makers and industries together to develop smart cities, Safir Adeni, president, TiE, Hyderabad chapter, said.
Defence Sites out of Google Street View
Defence sites in Hyderabad will be excluded from the proposed Google Street View of the city. Due to security reasons, the Telangana government has decided to keep the sensitive sites including the defence labs and other facilities of the Indian Army and Indian Air Force in the city out of the street view. Considered to be one of the safest cities in India, Hyderabad is home to several major defence organistaions such as the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Air Force Academy, Army Training Facility and other defence product manufacturers like Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL). The Union home ministry, which is yet to grant permission for the Street View in Hyderabad has asked the Telangana government to keep these key defence sites out of the project. Jayesh Ranjan, secretary, IT department, said, ‘’We are prepared for this. The work will begin once we get necessary permissions from the Union government.”
He further said, a special team of Google is already working on this project on their campus in Hyderabad.
After Hyderabad, the Telangana government is also planning to bring the entire state under Google Street View. The street view will offer a 360 degree panoramic view of every corner of the city.
