Udaipur is no doubt fortunate to be considered as one of the first 20 cities in India to be developed as a Smart City. Udaipurites should feel proud – after all who would not want to live in a place that has round the clock water supply, electricity, efficient urban mobility, well developed public transport, affordable housing and a sustainable environment.

But one should also recognize that with great privileges come great responsibilities. I would like to list out my set of 3 basic expectations that the citizens of Udaipur need to live up to, if Udaipur has to live up to being a Smart City.

1.Cleanliness : We all want to live in clean houses. We have our houses dusted and cleaned every day. But where does this dust get swept away? We would surely need more civic sense than we currently carry to not throw garbage on the road. Yes, it would mean that every ward, every areas has a dust bin installed and collected – but the bins themselves would not collect the garbage. How often we see people lowering their car windows and throwing garbage on street. Our homes are sacred but public places are garbage bins. The “Am I my brother’s keeper” attitude warrants a change.

2.Sanitation : It is a joke that in India, we should not ask for any place to relieve ourselves. Every place is a public toilet and a public spitting spot. I hope we start behaving ourselves and people do not have to place religious signs at places purely with the intent of preventing people from urinating or spitting. I hope we do not have to impose fines like in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur where leaving a public toilet without flushing commands 500 Singapore Dollar fine.

3.Traffic Sense : Yes, we do take pride in how we evaded being caught by a traffic cop or how we jumped the traffic signal all that makes for a great chatting point with friends. But one only needs to take a look at the number of road accidental deaths in Udaipur to get some perspective. I hope we overcome this attitude and start becoming more law abiding and more importantly law respecting.

I am sure as we think more, many more small issues will come to mind where we can make our small choices for a better surrounding. This is by no means an exhaustive list or the top-3 list. The idea of this list is only to get us all thinking

Lets not wait for the administration to make the city smart. Changing minor behaviors of ours, we can make the city a lot smarter – Overnight!!