Planning must be transparent
Pune has got it right: Citizens can fuel an urban renewal
N o government programme can succeed fully without the support of citizens. Unfortunately, political leaders and bureaucrats often forget this critical input while drawing up ambitious plans. The result: Lower-thanexpected outcomes of critical projects. In such a scenario, it was heartening to read what Prerana Deshbhratar, CEO, Pune Smart City Development Corporation Ltd (PSCDCL) and additional municipal commissioner of the city told HT: “Citizen engagement is the number one priority on our list and we set up our [smart city] projects only after several deliberations with the residents of this city”.
In 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Smart Cities Mission (SCM) to enable the holistic development of cities. This initiative aims to drive economic growth and improve the quality of life of people by enabling local development and harnessing technology as a means to create smart outcomes for citizens. It has also set up a platform — www.mygov.in — for better consultation between local governments and citizens. But as cities launched their urban renewal programmes, a few faltered badly on citizen’s participation. Take for example, Dehra Dun. Last year Doonites bulldozed their way into a smart city project and demanded their right to have a say in the planning process because they did not agree with the local government’s environmentally-destructive plans. Then there are examples of Bhubaneswar and Chennai: Both demonstrated the positive impact of citizen’s participation in SCM planning.
Much of the success of such citizen engagement, say experts, depends on whether city leaderships have appetite for it. Others such as Swati Ramanathan, co-founder of Janaagraha, say that in this age of “open data, open information, open digital, and open governments”, getting citizens on board and making the planning process transparent is important. Along with bringing transparency, local governments also has to keep in mind that citizens’ participation must include not just the upper end of society but also the poorer sections of the city.