Integrated Command and Control Centres:

GS Paper 1:

Topics Covered: Population and associated issues, poverty and developmental issues, urbanization, their problems and their remedies.

Context:

The government has announced that 80 of the 100 planned Integrated Command and Control Centres have been set up, with the rest to be completed by August 15.

What are ICCCs?

The Smart Cities Mission (SCM) includes setting up ICCCs for each city as a vital step.

• They are designed to enable authorities to monitor the status of various amenities in real time.
• They are aimed at controlling and monitoring water and power supply, sanitation, traffic movement, integrated building management, city connectivity and Internet infrastructure.
• These centres will now also monitor various other parameters and are also linked to the CCTNS (Crime and Criminal Tracking Networks and Systems) network under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

Significance:

The ICCC acts of a smart city acts as a “nerve centre” for operations management. It processes a complex and large pool of data sets at an aggregated level. For example, it is now the go-to source for integrated traffic management monitoring.

Smart Cities mission:

• GoI launched the smart cities mission in 2015.
• The cities were given five years to complete the projects under the mission, with the first set of Smart Cities expected to complete in 2021.
• The objective is to integrate city functions, utilize scarce resources more efficiently, and improve the quality of life of citizens.
• It is an innovative initiative under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
• It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme.

Smart city is envisaged to have four pillars:

1. Social Infrastructure.
2. Physical Infrastructure.
3. Institutional Infrastructure (including Governance).
4. Economic Infrastructure.

Progress made under this scheme (as of June 2021):

• Of the total proposed projects under this mission, 5,924 projects have been tendered, work orders have been issued for 5,236 and 2,665 projects are fully operational.
• 212 PPP projects worth Rs. 24,964 crore have been grounded/completed
• 70 Smart cities have developed. operationalized their Integrated Command and Control Centres (ICCCs) in the country.

Challenges ahead:

1. A lot of progress is desired in creating energy-efficient and green buildings.
2. Making Urban Bodies self-reliant.
3. The share of public transport is declining, it needs to be increased to meet the needs of increasing urbanization.
4. Rising air pollution, increase in road congestion due to an increase in urbanization.

Insta Curious:

Do you know about the Global Smart City Index? Read Here (Briefly).  

Do you remember the City Innovation Exchange (CiX)? Read this 

InstaLinks:

Prelims Link:

1. About the Smart Cities Mission.
2. India smart cities awards (ISCA)- latest edition.
3. Parameters used for ranking.
4. About the AMRUT mission.

Mains Link:

Discuss the significance of the Smart Cities Mission.

Sources: Indian Express.