Smart City advisory forum takes shape, to seek ideas from people

The civic body said that the forum would collect opinions and ideas from the residents before implementing projects under the Smart City Mission.

Chennai Corporation Commissioner G Prakash has been appointed as the chairman of the forum while Rajya Sabha member N Chandrasekaran has been appointed as thejoint chairman.

N Sathya Narayanan, MLA of T Nagar constituency, and Deputy Commissioner P Kumaravel Pandian are among those appointed as the members of the forum.

Even though the central government had mandated Smart Cities to constitute a city-level advisory forum, the civic body had delayed the process till now. It may be noted that the Centre had launched the Smart City Mission in 2016.

“During a board meeting of Chennai Smart City Limited in 2017, a resolution was adopted to form the forum. But the first meeting of the forum was held only on January 13. This is mainly due to the constriction from the union government,” a Chennai Corporationsource said.

When asked a civic body official about the rationale behind appointing an MP, who does not belong to Chennai, as joint chairman, he said that the rules mandate the appointment of a Parliamentarian. “It does not particularly mandate the appointment of local MP,” the official said.