IIM Indore to implement Indore Model to develop Kanpur Smart City

IIM Indore

With an aim to develop Kanpur as an international industrial hub on the lines of smart city, the Indian Institute of Management (IIM)-Indore and Kanpur Smart City Limited (KSCL), Kanpur Development Authority (KDA) and Kanpur Police Commissionerate signed an MoU on September 3, officials said.

According to the MoU, the stakeholders have been inspired by the Indore Model and will be implementing a similar model for Indore. With this, Kanpur will be developed into an international industrial hub. Also, the works will also focus on improving the quality of life for residents. The organisations developing the city will also pay attention to decongesting public spaces and reorganising street vendors from unauthorised areas to improve the road traffic movement, added the officials.

While the MoU was inked by the respective parties, Kanpur Division Municipal Commissioner Raj Shekhar, who also heads both KSCL and KDA, Police Commissioner Asim Arun and IIM (Indore) Director Prof Himanshu Rai were present.

He said, “The idea is to make Kanpur an industrial hub at par with international standards for which it is mandatory to improve the quality of life of residents here and cleanliness is a major constituent of that, ” Prof Rai told PTI. Indore is a city popular for its cleanliness. It is an attempt to replicate such a model in Kanpur and adopt best practices of waste segregation and plan traffic management through information, education and communication (IEC), he added.

Further, a panel of IIM-Indore experts, headed by Rai, would also draft a plan for facilitating street vendors with an objective to have an organised system. In order to improve the traffic situation in the city, the plan is to adopt the Indore model and take the help of Google Satellite images for real-time monitoring.

Prof Rai said, “Engineering solutions like construction and deconstruction could also be made. Like, we shall study if a particular crossing needs a roundabout or if any existing roundabout needs to be removed in order to facilitate smooth movement.”

(With inputs from PTI)