A workshop, organised by FICCI in Dehradun to discuss Smart City proposals, resulted in an to open dialogue to understand the vision of local residents.

Representatives of NGOs, Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA), Nagar Nigam as well as local residents participated in it.

Meenkashi Sundaram, nodal officer for Smart City proposal, said there were mistakes in the earlier proposals the civic body had made.

He said that “this time, we want to do it right and take all stakeholders’ opinions and most importantly, of the residents. We have started door-to-door surveys on what people want in the city.”

He added that the basic aim of the workshop was to encourage more people to participate in the decision-making process by voting online.

Most participants favoured the idea of retrofitting and redevelopment and wanted Smart City to offer better health care and educational facilities, more scope for urban development as well as better planning of infrastructure.