Last month, when our Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Silicon Valley, we heard how top CEOs are willing to work for technology-savvy India. CEOs including Sundar Pichai (CEO, Google), Satya Nadella (CEO, Microsoft) are planning to contribute to the smart cities project of Modi government.
Surat is the fourth fastest growing city of the world and the fastest growing city of Asia. When Modi government launched Smart Cities project, government asked cities officials to follow Surat city model. Even Microsoft is taking special interest in Surat. Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella mentioned how Microsoft is helping Surat city to become the smart city with their City Next project at Silicon Valley.
Watch Satya Nadella mentioning Surat in his speech at Silicon Valley
Now the question is, how exactly Microsoft will help Surat to become smart city?
Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) is one of the early tech and e-governance adopter cities of India. Last year, Microsoft selected Surat city to develop as the first smart city of India as the city already has the technological base in governance.
Surat city is also the first city to have a city-wide surveillance system in entire India. Entire city is being monitored by CCTV cameras. The city also has smart water supply and sewage systems.
Citizens of Surat are able to pay tax, file RTI, get birth and death certificates online right now along with many such services. But Microsoft will help SMC improve unattained areas. Microsoft will help city police to tighten the security. The company will help make infrastructure of the city better and future concerning. Microsoft will help with installing Government Administration Systems, smart utility services and more. You can check overview of the Surat City Next project by Microsoft and Surat Municipal Corporation in the video below.
Here is what Microsoft Surat City Next Project looks like