Experts for changes in legislative framework to make smart

Experts, gathered in the city for an International smart cities workshop on sustainable urban development, on Tuesday underlined the need for changes in the legislative framework to make the Union governments smart cities mission more effective and successful.

The legal experts emphasised that changes in the law are absolutely necessary to take care of the issues that will arise following the use of advanced technology and digitalization.

They were speaking at the two-day conference organised by the Heidelberg University of Germany,Observer Research Foundation, Delhi and School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi.

It was conducted under the aegis of the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany, Kolkata, in collaboration with the IIT Kharagpur, Impact and Policy Research Institute (IMPRI), Delhi, University of Calcutta and IGCC with support from Friedrich Naumann Stiftung.

Dr. Uday Shankar of IIT Kharagpur, who did a comparative study of the Special Purpose Vehicle Act and the Jharkhands Municipal City Act of 2011, felt the Municipal Act is better framed to deal with issues of urbanisation than the SPV Act of smart cities mission.

Dr Shankar said the SPV Act leaves out big gaps on questions of accountability factor, grievance redress system and others. He felt the democratic character of our constitution is missing in the SPV Act.

Lawyers Subhadip Biswas and Ranajit Roy of Lex Global, law firm and Trust for SEARCH, said there is a need for a new set of laws to take care of the post construction period.

Biswas and Roy said respective laws concerning issues regarding smart cities needed to be amended in accordance with the Article 13 to make implementation of smart city policies in accordance with the smart city mission.

Ashok Dhar, Director, ORF Kolkata, delivered the inaugural address in which he focused on the need to find a smart and intelligent solution to the problems of mobility in Indian cities, especially Kolkata.

Saying bio-fuels will remain a dominant source in mobility in India, he called for a realistic mix of vehicles in each city according to its requirements.

He said lack of clarity among the policy-makers and the ministers would affect investment in the country, especially in the automobile and petroleum sectors. He also felt excessive dependence on Electric Vehicles will only replace our dependence from oil to lithium, which also needs to be imported and whose prices are escalating rapidly.

Devi Prasad Karanam, Joint Secretary, West Bengal government, while delivering the keynote address, stressed on better implementation of policies to improve cities. He said earlier plans did not achieve the desired results because of lack of implementation.

He pointed out there are 25 municipalities around KMC (Kolkata Municipal Corporation) and there are no uniform policies in these municipalities. He said special emphasis should be given on water, sanitation and solid waste management besides infrastructure.

Delivering the special address, Germanys Consul General Dr. Feiner said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has done a good starting point by launching the smart city mission. He said we all have the responsibility to leave the cities livable for the next generation.

Welcoming delegates, Dr. Des Radu Carciumaru, Resident Representative, Heidelberg University, India (Delhi) Office, said the smart cities workshop series was launched in 2016 and has covered 14 cities across India so far.

Saying the common goal of smart cities is to increase the quality of life, whether it is in Germany or India, he said the policy makers should try to avoid the topdown approach for better results.

Dr. Rumi Aijaz, senior fellow and head of ORFs Urban Initiative, said India is at the beginning stage of smart cities and stressed the need to use real time data, generated from the use of smart technology, quickly and effectively to take smart decisions in real time.

He pointed out smart city initiatives were going on not only in India but also in other developing BRICS countries like China, Brazil and South Africa.

Dr. Simon Washington, Head of School of Civil Engineering, the University of Queensland, Australia, however felt that new technologies, like driverless cars, always do not solve issues but instead create more problems in future.

He said people gravitate towards new technologies to solve problems, but may end up in more problems.

In the two-day workshop, topics like smart governance, inclusive cities, resources management, smart infrastructure and built environment are being discussed by various policy-makers, scholars, practitioners, architects, planners, legal experts and general citizens.