Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation Receives ‘Governance’ Award For Smart Sarathi Initiative at Indore
By: Pune Pulse
September 28, 2023
Pune: In a proud moment, the Pimpri Chinchwad Smart City’s ‘Smart Sarathi’ application won second place in the country in the ‘Governance’ category at the India Smart Cities Project Award by the Government of India.
Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister honoured Shekhar Singh, Municipal Commissioner of Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation and Chief Executive Officer of Smart City, in a program held in Indore (Madhya Pradesh). Nilkanth Poman, PCMC Chief Information and Technology Officer, and Ankit Bhargava, Smart Sarathi App Project Head were also present on this occasion.
Speaking on the occassion, Shekhar Singh, Municipal Commissioner, PCMC said, “The Smart Cities Mission seeks to revolutionize urban development practices by providing essential infrastructure, a clean and sustainable environment and improved quality of life to city dwellers through innovative ‘Smart Solutions’.”
He added, “A significant step has been taken by this mission towards the goal of achieving a paradigm shift in urban development. PCMC Smart Sarathi is playing an important role in administration with the help of the latest technology. Currently, around 2 lakh users are interacting through the app, web portal and social media channels.”
Singh further stated, “As Pimpri Chinchwad has bagged the second award in the country and the first in the state, it is a matter of pride for the city dwellers and once again a flag of honour has been planted in the city. Such success is being achieved only because of the participation of citizens, public representatives, various organizations and administration in the city. Commissioner Singh also expressed hope that this cooperation will continue.”
As per further information from PCMC PRO, at Indore on Wednesday, Kaushal Kishore, Union Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Mangubhai Patel, Governor, Manoj Joshi, Secretary Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Kunal, Joint Secretary and Mission Director, Government of India Smart Cities Mission along with CEOs of various smart cities and various dignitaries were present. Pimpri Chinchwad has received the ‘Governance’ award out of 80 eligible cities across the country.
Pimpri Chinchwad achieved the second position in the country and the first position in the state. After receiving the award, Commissioner Shekhar Singh expressed that this success is a matter of pride for the people of Pimpri Chinchwad.
At the India Smart Cities Project Award program in Indore, a stall was set up to provide information about the various ambitious projects underway through the Pimpri Chinchwad Smart City. In the first session of the program, the President of the country Draupadi Murmu took information about the projects going on through Pimpri Chinchwad Municipality and Smart City.
PCMC Commissioner Shekhar Singh presented the projects through videotape. On this occasion, Nilkanth Poman, PCMC Chief Information and Technology Officer, Chitra Pawar, Company Secretary, Binish Surendran of Smart Sarathi, Ashish Chikane, and Kiran Lavte represented Pimpri Chinchwad.
Pimpri Chinchwad’s “Smart Sarathi App” is a visionary digital initiative. PCMC is working to enhance and promote the use of e-governance as well as citizen participation through the Smart Sarathi platform. Currently, more than 2 lakh citizens are interacting through apps, web portals and social media channels. Initiatives for citizen participation in various activities, utility updates, online municipal tax payment, online marriage registration, birth and death certificate facility, online application facility for benefits under Naagarvasti Yojana, grievance redressal mechanism for convenience of citizens using ID, use of “GPS” to locate municipal offices, relief work to reach out in times of emergency, initiatives to boost the local economy, organizing webinars.
This online system is being used for the protection of citizens from the outbreak of Corona and the welfare of citizens, including information on municipal health campaigns, developments in the education sector, information on development projects, and blog writing. The Smart Sarathi app is also being used to raise the level of municipal schools. This visionary philanthropic digital initiative has made its mark across the country and is being appreciated everywhere.
The country’s 100 smart cities have undertaken a wide range of projects in mobility, energy, sanitation, waste management, public space, social infrastructure and smart governance. India Smart Cities Award Contest (ISAC) is organized under the Smart Cities Mission to promote these projects.
Out of 80 eligible smart cities across the country, the India Smart Cities Award Contest (ISAC) 2022 received a total of 845 nominations. Through five evaluation phases, 66 winners in various award categories qualified for the award.
Among them, 35 Project Awards, 6 Innovation Awards, 13 National/Zonal City Awards, 5 State/UT and 7 Partner Awards category winners were felicitated.
These include Project Awards with 10 themes, Innovation Awards with 2 themes, National/Zonal City Awards, State Awards, UT Awards and Partner Awards with 3 themes.
