The Uttarakhand government intends to include the personal rapid transit system (PRTS) in the reworked draft of the Smart City project planned for Dehradun city which failed to make the cut in the first phase of Smart City selection.

Officials admitted that it had earlier ignored the needs of people living within the limits of the Municipal Corporation. They admitted that there was little to show in terms of projects being planned for the greater convenience of the people already living in the city.

“We feel that enough focus was not given to the city facilities that we had planned for making Dehradun a Smart City,” said Meenakshi Sundaram, Nodal Officer, Smart City project. “Hence we will definitely include the PRTS project in the reworked project that would ease traffic congestion.”

The PRTS project in Dehradun is proposed to provide computerised cab facilities (without driver) from the ISBT to the Sai Temple in Rajpur, thereby covering a distance of 20 km and having 19 stoppages.

The plan also did not focus on setting up a special purpose vehicle (SPV) that had to be created for implementing the Smart City project. It would have been an added advantage, if a framework for creating SPV was also undertaken in concurrence with the Dehradun Municipal Corporation by the state government.