ICCC in all 100 smart cities are functional, says Hardeep Singh Puri

Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday said Integrated Command and Control Centres (ICCC) had been activated in all 100 smart cities across India, adding that the technology played a key role in several areas such as providing inclusive environment for disabled persons, providing accessibility and waste management.

New Delhi: Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday said that the Integrated Command and Control Centres (ICCC) in all 100 smart cities in India have become functional and they are playing an important role in harnessing technology for better coordination within the cities.

Asserting that technology was one mechanism through which accessible and inclusive environment could be provided for persons with disabilities by leveling the field, Puri said that advocacy and awareness-generation are equally essential in removing the stigma around disability.

"Our cities need citizen-centric and participatory solutions that create an ecosystem where Indians are more emphatic to the needs of persons with disabilities. Assistive technology, in particular, already has market viability in India. We must capitalize on these trends to build accessible and inclusive urban spaces," Puri said while talking at an Award distribution function in New Delhi.

The Awards are an initiative of the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) and the United Nations (UN) in India to address city-level accessibility and inclusion challenges faced by persons with disabilities.

Puri highlighted that around 70 percent of those who need assistive technology did not have access to such a facility. The minister, while citing 2011 census data, said that approximately 26.8 million people in India live with disabilities.

ICCC has been envisioned as the core point for the operation of smart cities which implements smart water network, intelligent transport management, CCTV surveillance, waste management, pollution control in the entire smart city eco-system.

Puri said that while strengthening fundamental rights for persons with disabilities, greater emphasis has been laid on the importance of fundamental duties "and this is what the Prime Minister sought from every Indian when he spoke of the "Paanch Pran" to make India a developed country by 2047."