‘Smart’ but non-functional: CAG report says utility of ICT solutions negligible under Smart Cities Mission in Karnataka

“Audit observed (July 2024) that GPS devices were live only in 21 out of 35 Ambulances. In other vehicles, GPS was either inactive or scrapped,” the report said.

In another ITS initiative, a passenger information system was installed at 20 smart bus shelters of the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) under the mission. However, a joint physical verification of five smart shelters revealed that they were non-functional. “The contract for the smart bus shelter project had expired, and the MCC, which was handed over (September 2020) with the shelters, had not taken action to renew the contract and make the system operational,” the report stated.

The implementation of the ITMS, intended to automate the process of traffic management, was marred by the use of outdated cameras, procurement of equipment in violation of technical committee recommendations, and incomplete assessment of requirements for the selected cities.

The report has also flagged the suboptimal utilisation of the Smart Health Care System in a project taken up in Hubballi-Dharwad to upgrade the Government Chitaguppi Hospital to a smart hospital. The ICT project had Aadhaar-based electronic health records as a module. This was not implemented as the Hubballi Dharwad Smart City Corporation Limited suggested not making Aadhaar mandatory, citing data privacy and confidentiality.

The virtual/remote healthcare system also elicited a poor response as the number of patients availing of the benefit was lower compared to hospital visits. Such factors, the CAG said, have “hindered the effective utilisation of the installed smart system”.
The Centre launched the mission in 2015 to achieve comprehensive development of the physical, institutional, social, and economic infrastructure of 100 cities across the country.