Aurangabad: As part of the Aurangabad Smart City mission, a pilot project aimed at improving liveability in the city with focus on streets has been taken up by the Aurangabad Smart City Development Corporation.The objective of the project, which is in the form of a survey, is to implement a street project which can be replicated in other parts of the city in future.The purpose of this survey is to gather feedback and views on specific measures to enable transformation of the streets of Aurangabad as safe, attractive, and fulfilling public spaces, an official note reads.Special online platforms have been set up to enable citizens and other stakeholders to participate in the survey.The survey, which takes not more than 15 minutes, asks participants to choose among identified busy streets that they use often in Aurangabad. Participants have to answer further questions with respect to the street they have chosen below though there are options of filing a survey for more than one street.The selected road is first evaluated on key parameters such as safety, cleanliness, attractiveness, access to basic amenities such as seating and lighting, noise quality, air quality and smell quality. The survey at one point becomes interactive with participants asked to mention changes they would like to prioritize on a scale of 1 to 5.These changes include continuous footpath and safe road crossings, organised parking, dedicated cycle track, more shade trees and planters on footpath , better quality road construction and maintenance, clean and maintained public toilets, overall cleanliness, policing and monitoring, provision of street furniture and more street facing shops and eateries.Hailed as the most ambitious project of the Centre through which it plans to develop 100 smart cities across the country, Aurangabad has found a place in second list of 27 cities.Sikandar Ali, city engineer associated with Aurangabad Municipal Corporation, could not be reached for his comments. Another competent authority related to implementation of the Smart City mission said the online survey related to road was precursor to building public participation in Smart City mission. We have received feedback from over 250 citizens so far and we expect to receive more. We are planning a major public participation event next month and the online survey can be seen as prelude to it, the authorities said.One of the key features of the survey is to seek public feedback on technological interventions to make the city smart. The proposed interventions include mobile app to obtain information and report incidents or unsafe conditions, free WiFi zones, LED streetlights functioning on solar energy, digital wayfinding signage and information boards, mobile charging points, device to automatically monitor and report traffic rules violation and real-time air quality monitoringThe online survey also tries to know the commuting practices of participants with information sought on possible preferred modes, including bicycle, two-wheeler, three-wheeler, four-wheeler and public transport. It also collects feedback on possible interventions and facilities such as more bus stops, rickshaw stand, food kiosk, first aid facilities, dustbins, pedestrian lighting, trees and planters and toilets and drinking water fountain to name a few.The survey, which specifically asks respondents whether they will use public transport if good quality and frequent service is made available, also seeks to know whether citizens have witnessed any pedestrian or vehicular accidents on identified streets.Infrastructure analyst Nikhil Bhalerao said public participation was must to ensure successful implementation of the Smart City mission in Aurangabad.The latest survey can be seen as baby steps taken by the authorities to increase public participation. However, more concerted efforts are needed to ensure people from all strata of society become a part of the initiative, he said.At the end, the survey tries to know the willingness of respondents in participating in community planning process.BOX- Be part of surveyEnglish: http://bit.ly/ASCDCL_Survey_EnglishMarathi: http://bit.ly/ASCDCL_Survey_MarathiHindi: http://bit.ly/ASCDCL_Survey_Hindi(Source- Smart City Mission)

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