The Survey of India looks forward to playing a crucial role in the Centre’s ambitious smart city project.
“The first work has to be done by the Survey of India,” Surveyor General of India Swarna Subba Rao said, exuding confidence about the Centre requisitioning the work of the principal mapping agency once broad contours of the project are finalised.
Any activity related to creating smart cities, he told The Hindu here on Wednesday, begins with mapping the specifics. If it is about smart roads, the exercise would involve collection of a range of data from dimensions to the parking spaces.
He said the project, which has generated considerable public interest ever since the government announced budgetary support for 100 smart city projects, is expected to gain momentum once the priorities are set. “A city can be smart in many aspects… once [priorities are] decided, they will come to me,” he added.
Some good mapping in five to six major cities, including Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai, has already been conducted by the Survey of India.
