Smartcity Rourkela ranks among the Top 15 Cities of the world under the Bloomberg Global Mayors Challenge 2021.
This makes the city eligible for a grant of USD 1 million from Bloomberg Philanthropies and technical assistance to carry out innovation over the next three years.
Rourkela, one of the five Municipal Corporations and a leading industrial town of Odisha, is the only Indian city to make the honour.
Under Global Mayors Challenge, Rourkela has developed a sustainable model which augments the income of Women and small time traders of the city while promoting the use of technology.
As part of the project, the Rourkela (RMC) has developed a cold Storage Facility at the local Veer Surendra Sai (VSS) Market in PARTNERSHIP with a NIT Rourkela based startup and managed by women self help group members.
With the solution, the local farmers and fruit traders have been able to enhance their income by preserving their produce and preventing any wastage.
In addition, fresh vegetables and fruits are delivered to people’s doorsteps, especially in times of Covid 19. All of this is being managed by members of women Self Help Groups using mobile apps.
While developing the ecosystem and helping all the stakeholders, the model helps the women largely in augmenting their livelihoods.
Notably, 99 countries from around the world took part in the Global Mayors Challenge held in June 2021. At a critical time such as the Covid pandemic, the competition focused on proposals from 630 cities on economic recovery and overall Growth, Health and welfare, Climate and Environment, and Governance“>Good Governance and Equality. Of these, 50 cities, including Rourkela, were finalists among proposals for innovative and modern projects. Currently, Rourkela is the only city from India to have made the cut among top 15 cities globally.