As the sun sets on India’s ambitious Smart Cities Mission, one of its most iconic innovations, “the Integrated Command and Control Centres (ICCCs)” stands at an uncertain juncture. Launched in 2015 by the Narendra Modi government, the mission was envisioned as a transformative urban development initiative, spanning 100 cities. But with its official end on March 31, the future of the high-tech command centres, once hailed as digital sentinels of urban India, is now shrouded in doubt.
These ICCCs, armed with vast arrays of CCTV cameras, IoT devices, and real-time analytics dashboards, have been pivotal in urban surveillance, crime tracking, disaster response, and traffic management. Their importance was especially visible during the COVID-19 pandemic. The cumulative cost of these smart systems has exceeded ₹1.51 lakh crore. But the real challenge now is less about technology and more about sustenance: who will pay the bill?
An Expensive Legacy
The operational cost of maintaining each command centre lies between ₹2 crore and ₹3 crore annually. With state funding drying up, many municipal bodies—already under fiscal strain—are struggling to keep the digital wheels turning.
Several states are exploring ways to make these centres self-sustainable. In Pune, for instance, the ICCC has been folded into the municipal corporation’s flood management strategy. Officials are also exploring revenue-sharing mechanisms, such as redirecting fines from digital traffic violations and utilizing rental income from public infrastructure like community halls.
However, implementation isn’t seamless. A civic official from Pune revealed that despite the digital fines, the state hasn’t issued formal guidelines on whether the revenue can be redirected to support ICCC operations. In Guwahati, the state's financial support for ICCC operations remains insufficient, and cities are looking at monetizing services like museums and bus stands to fill the gap.
Innovation Meets Bureaucracy
Some states are experimenting with cutting-edge approaches. Gujarat is using digital twins—virtual replicas of city infrastructure—to track flooding, while Surat is attempting to monetize its optic fibre network. Officials project that Surat could earn ₹5 crore annually and potentially ₹15 crore over 20 years from leasing the infrastructure to private players.
Yet, not all experiments have found footing. In Madhya Pradesh, the state agreed to fund 75% of ICCC costs, but local officials in Jabalpur claim that this covers only 25% of their annual operating budget. In Karnataka, consultants have been given a one-month extension to integrate ICCCs with department line items, but progress is slow, hindered by tangled bureaucratic red tape and revenue-sharing deadlocks.
What Happens Next?
A senior official at the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) acknowledged the complexity. “Revenue-sharing from fines is a common-sense idea. But cities need to be enabled to act—right now, too many are stuck waiting for state-level decisions,” the official said. “There won’t be more central funding, but an advisory will soon be issued to guide state-level support.”
Meanwhile, in Delhi, the ICCC model—limited to NDMC—is still at a preliminary phase, though a recent delegation visited Surat to explore its more developed implementation.
The Ministry’s new focus may lie in integrating ICCCs with broader platforms like the National Urban Digital Mission or under schemes such as CITIIS 2.0, but clarity remains elusive.
The Future Road
Though the Smart Cities Mission may be sunsetting, its digital legacy remains. The ICCCs have set new benchmarks for urban data governance and emergency response systems. Whether cities can now transition from dependency to self-reliance will determine if these smart command centres evolve into permanent fixtures—or become relics of an incomplete digital dream.
The real question isn’t just about money. It’s whether India’s cities can turn vision into sustainable reality—where smart isn’t just a mission, but a mindset.
