Smart thinking must to make Hyderabad smart

Imagine a situation where your vehicle has a flat tyre late in the evening and you have no help at hand and you are also not sure of the exact location where you are? How would it be if the nearest lamppost can come to your rescue?

This is not fiction. In Prague, the lampposts are being used to help people in distress. All that one has to do is walk up to the lamppost, call the emergency service number and just read out the six-digit number printed at eye level on the lamppost. This gives the exact location and the Prague Emergency Services reach out to those in trouble. We also need to develop such an emergency services system.

Like in India, the problem of covering the number on the lampposts with flyers promoting events or other services is prevalent but the authorities in Prague have found a solution to this menace. The emergency service company removes hundreds of illegal flyers from Prague lampposts every week, and coats the posts with a special paint that makes it more difficult for flyers to be stuck on the lampposts. Not just that, since e-vehicles are gaining popularity, Prague is now going to install light poles which will be able to recharge electric cars. According to City Councillor Jan Chabr, it is estimated that by 2030 Prague will have 500,000 to 700,000 electric cars. In the next two years' time E-mobility in Prague will become a reality as the existing lamp posts will be replaced with new lamp posts which can be used for recharging electric cars. This project is being given top priority by the local administration.

The construction of a network of charging points will be done in coordination with other municipal entities for selection of locations and would involve the Prague Institute of Planning and Development or the Technical Roadway Administration. The modernisation of the lighting system would include replacement of cable network and renewal of roads. This is where we are lagging. There is no proper coordination between various wings of administration. We could not even get rid of the menace of TV cable operators using lamp posts for giving connections to houses and commercial establishments. We have not been able to come with a scientific system of uniform speed-breakers. Places like the cable bridge in Hyderabad have rumble speed breakers for every 20 metres or so. The vehicles hardly reduce the speed defeating the purpose of such speed breakers. There are speed breakers on P V Express highway which causes greater danger than safety. Nothing is done to create awareness among road users to reduce the speed as they approach the speed breakers.

Unless the rulers stop patting their own back and show seriousness in having focussed approach of improving infrastructural facilities, there is no point brooding over low ranking of the city.