Nagpur civic body to adopt GIS technology for urban development

Nagpur Municipal Corporation is set to adopt Geographic Information System (GIS) technology to make the city's development works more organised and to give residents easy access to information on basic civic facilities. A meeting was held at the civic body's headquarters, chaired by Commissioner Dr Vipin Itankar, in which there was a detailed discussion on making the city's development works more systematic and on the effective use of the GIS system.

Through this technology, a digital map will be prepared of ongoing construction works in the city and existing basic facilities. The civic body believes this will help in planning development works, resolving difficulties that arise during construction, and improving coordination between different departments.

At the meeting, Commissioner Dr Vipin Itankar gave clear instructions to officials to quickly take the necessary steps to prepare digital records of the basic facilities available in the city. He also said that information about these facilities should reach ordinary citizens as well. Once the GIS system is in place, people will be able to easily find out which facilities are available where in the city. The commissioner also stressed bringing transparency and discipline into the planning and implementation of development works.

However, no date or timeline has yet been fixed for how this digital information will be made available to citizens or when this will begin.

The meeting also discussed simplifying the process for granting permissions for construction works. Plans were also considered to prepare, through the GIS system, a map of buildings, construction works and basic facilities that already exist in the city. The civic body wants information on essential city facilities to be available in digital form so that concerned departments have accurate information while planning development works. This is expected to make it easier to identify and resolve issues related to existing facilities during new construction works.

The meeting also decided that a study would be conducted on the requirement for basic facilities, keeping in mind Nagpur's growing population and future urban needs, and that further development planning would be based on this study. Discussions were also held on reducing problems faced during construction works by improving coordination between different departments. The civic body plans to make information on all existing city facilities available on a single digital platform through the GIS system.