BANGALORE: Modi’s dream project of building smart cities received a great response when being presented in the budget but the implementation process was the most worrying factor. But that seems to have faded away now as engineers from various institutes, including the Indian Institutes of Technology have sought out ideas to help PM Modi with ideas to build smart cities across the country, reposts Kalpana Pathak of Business Standard.

With these developments the IIT-Bombay, as part of its annual technology event Techfest, has sent out invites to engineers and professionals to suggest ideas to make their city a smart city. Additionally the institution has also decided that ideas presented by the participants shall be considered for implementation in the development of new smart cities along the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor.

The students who will be indulged in this process would also be mentored by a qualified panel of over 50 members, including Anand Singh Bhal, economic advisor, ministry of urban development, government of India; S K Jain, deputy director-general, ministry of communications and IT; Prem Narayan, director Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission and among others.

Apart from the government officers, the students will also get inputs from professors of IIT-Bombay, IIT-Kanpur, IIT-Kharagpur, IISC Bangalore and other institutions and corporates throughout the process.

IIT-Bombay said, “Techfest aims at providing a strong sharing platform and offers a unique opportunity to get involved in the development of smart cities to exchange ideas and foster the new integrated approaches in India. It has been designed with a vision to involve Indian community in developing smart cities which are ecologically friendly, technologically integrated and meticulously planned with a particular reliance on the use of information technology to improve efficiency.”