Smart solutions for cities such as surveillance systems help reduce crime and improve safety of women. Technology also enhances citizens’ participation and improves basic infrastructure, reduces traffic congestion and enables people to breath clean air, Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister said at the Network18-Honeywell Smart Buildings Award.

“Smart solutions for cities, such as surveillance systems lead to greatly reduced crime and improved safety of residents particularly women. City-wide Wi-Fi networks improve communication among citizens as well that with various service providers. E-governance and citizen feedback management lead to improved social cohesion by increase in opportunities for citizen engagement, reduction in social inequities, and reduction in response time for services for business. Integrated traffic management will increase the traffic speeds and reduce traffic congestions and hence cleaner air for people to breathe,” Puri said.

Smart buildings use the latest technology to make them green and sustainable. They are a "response to our concerns and the many questions that loom large before us," he said, adding "the norm should be smart buildings, not exeptions."

"The ease of living has a strong focus on technology but it is not exclusively centred on it. Technology will enhance citizen participation, improve provision of basic services and infrastructure and make areas more liveable," he said on Wednesday.

Another role of technology is to enable Indians to leapfrog the conventional development pathway. It also has a sustainable face too—permitting us to do more with less, thereby reducing the resource consumption, he said.

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