Bhubaneswar, Sept 12: On Saturday at the gathering on “Role of Media in CSR” at OTV’s CSR Conclave-2016, Union minister of Urban Development, M Venkaiah Naidu called the smart city plan, submitted by Odisha, as the ‘best example’ to emerge as number one among the 20 winners of the Smart City Challenge competition which had been held earlier this year.
He said that, on being questioned that how come Bhubaneswar managed to emerge as the number one in the smart city list, he answered saying that the plan proposed by Bhubaneswar, Odisha states what it can do and what it cannot posing this to be the best example. According to him, a smart city requires smart leaders in the sense thus indicating wisdom and honesty and smart people. Being the Minster of Information and Broadcasting as well, he further highlighted the fact that City people also have an important responsibility and media has role to create to social awareness.
The smart city proposal of the city comprises of two components – an area-based proposal for the development of Bhubaneswar. Town Centre District (BTCD) and a pan-city proposal for Intelligent City Operations and Management Centre (ICOMC). The BTCD plans to retrofit and redevelop 985 acres centered on the main railway station in the heart of the city to a vibrant 24×7 destination. ICOMC will provide a digital platform for integrating multiple city sub-systems of traffic management, parking, bus operations, common fare card, emergency response, and city incident management along with seamless integration of BTCD’s utility operation requirements. The smart city proposal estimates total project costs at Rs 4,537 crore, including Rs 4,095 crore for BTDC and Rs 442 crore for ICOMC.
He also urged the media to be away from sensation and negative mindset. He called media, electronic in particular, in the recent times, has become aggressive to get high television rating points (TRPs), but also said that at the same time the society needs to be progressive. He further added on, Social media is playing an important role in the country and competing with the traditional media in reaching out to the masses. Electronic media and print media has censor but social media has no censorship.
He also remarked on Odisha CM, Naveen Patnaik saying that he is not an enemy of BJP but its political rival. The BJP leader’s statement was significant as both the supporters of the ruling BJD and BJP have recently clashed with each other in different parts of the state. Naidu also pinched on the various schemes like free mangalsutra and free power launched by several state governments. At last the Union Minister concluded the day’s speech by saying that it’s the responsibility of the government to make people skilled so that they are able to earn independently to become empowered both socially and economically.
