Chennai looks at integrated governance -Governance Now

Chennai looks at integrated governance

During calamities, three aspects that will be in focus are prevention and control of public health problems, handling of patients and moving them to relief camps.

Shivani Chaturvedi | August 31, 2017 | Chennai

#Chennai #calamities #public health #governance #integration

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Chennai’s public health system would work ‘more intelligently’ during natural disasters or spread of diseases, said an official.

Public health measures during emergency which includes flood, cyclone will be speedy and better managed. Chennai has experienced such calamities in the past and being a coastal region, cyclones do hit often, says K Kolandaswamy director of public health.

Medical infrastructure facilities will work in coordination with Chennai corporation and everything will be linked with command and control centre (CCC), which is one of the core initiatives under Chennai smart city project. CCC plays a pivotal role in seamlessly synthesising various department’s data and dissemination of predictive and real time analytics leveraging internet of things (IoT) and big data management.

Elaborating on how public health system would improve, Kolandaswamy says, during calamities, three aspects that will be in focus are prevention and control of public health problems, handling of patients and moving them to relief camps.

All the data will be provided at the CCC and there will be better coordination between the health department and Chennai corporation. “All the information will be readily available and unified action can be taken. Earlier, it was slightly unstructured. With CCC in place there will be well planned approach and it aims to help bridge communication gap,” adds Kolandaswamy.

What’s more, on a regular basis there will be capacity building and development training.

Some of the core infrastructure elements in Chennai smart city would include continuous water supply, assured electricity supply, sanitation, including solid waste management, efficient urban mobility and public transport, robust IT connectivity and digitilisation, good governance, especially e-governance and citizen participation, sustainable environment, safety and security of citizens, particularly women, children and elderly. This initiative will extend to the entire Chennai city.

Arun Moral of Chennai Smart City Limited explains that presently various departments are working in silos. CCC is trying to have integration layer which will bring in some kind of cross pollination of data. “Let us take an example of traffic. Any person who wants to travel from point A to point B, today he can use the mobile app which can give him the service where google tells him which is the fastest route that can take him to the destination.”

In the days to come, we will be envisaging which will be the most optimal mode of transport which can take you through the fastest route, plus the most economical way as well, he adds.

The interface for the citizens will be through app or through online portal. For the officers and government staff, there will be CCC. At the CCC there could be video wall and there could be huge number of screens, all of them integrated.

Deputy commissioner (works) Chennai corporation M Govinda Rao says, Chennai corporation has proposed to set up the CCC. “We are looking at integrated governance. We need better coordination among various agencies, especially during times of crises such as natural disasters or spread of diseases. The 27 departments will work in coordination. We will integrate data from all the departments and there will be standard operating procedures on which CCC would work. Representatives of all the departments will be working at CCC.”

The control room would be set up in Chennai corporation and Chennai will have a comprehensive system. Cities like Mumbai do have such a system, but there it is not overall integration, he adds.

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