GREATER HYDERABAD

MUNICIPAL CORPORATION

June 2011

Off Site Real Time Monitoring System

(OSRT)

„anytime anywhere‟

Idea Germination

2

• Difficulty in monitoring civic activities over 625

sq.km area, 80lakh population, 50 wards, 5 zones

and 18 circles

• To provide 360-degree accountability in delivery of

municipal activities

• Generate real-time off-site images of municipal

activities valued by citizens

• Making the GHMC managers more responsive and

responsible

Goal

3

• Citizen empowerment

• Leverage IT for civic services

• To develop a 360-degree accountability

mechanism, relying on the little used camera of

the ubiquitous, easy-to-use mobile phone as the

tool of accountability.

• Provide authentic any time any where information

on various civic activities

Road-map

4

• Idea concretised in April - May, 2010

• POC done in June’ 2010

• Pilot commenced in August’ 2010

• Tender called in September, 2010

• Vendor finalised in November, 2010

Strategy

5

• SWOT analysis of GHMC vis-a-vis initiative

• Initiated groundwork in April’ 2010

– sensitizing all stake holders

– clear study of existing administrative and monitoring systems

• Gradual scaling up of the initiative

• Strict measures against recalcitrant officials

Uniqueness of the Initiative

6

• Innovativeness of the OSRT mechanism is founded on the integration of

accountability tools and processes by relying on the eye of the mobile phone

• Availability of real time reports / data / images in public domain

• Utilizing the easy-to-use mobile phone eye (camera) for civic governance

• Reviews based on reports generated with 2 seconds latency

• Auto s.m.s. to citizens upon registration of grievance (through mobile phone)

and after redressal. Status verification of grievance through website

• Making municipal mangers more responsive and responsible and making

citizens responsible

• Single point availability of various civic activities and outputs in public

domain

• Usage of GPS / GPRS

• Satellite captured Latitude / Longitude and date/time stamp on all images

• Utilizing Photo comparison and perimeter binding technologies

• Transparency in administration

• OSRT is in public domain and citizens have access to all its features like any

GHMC official.

Technical Specifications

7

Technology (Hardware, Software, Platform)

– NOKIA , C++, Symbian, J2EE

Feature List

– Goe and Time stamped Real time Snapshots

– Data compression and decompression, Image processing,

– Integrated with GIS reporting tools

Hosting

– Cloud Computing with WTLS encryption and registered mobile phones only

– User name and Password for each TXN

Integration mechanism (with different mobile phones)

– Any mobile with GPRS and GPS features

Coverage area

– Entire 625 sq.km. GHMC area

Installation procedure/Technical Requirements of the product/project

– Need only Mobile phone with GPRS feature and Connectivity and GPS

– Client appli can be down loaded and pushed to

– Solution is available in public domain and can be accessed at http://www.osrt.in:8080/igms

Status

8

• Being used for monitoring dumper bins & attendance ,

street lighting, Town Planning, Anti-larval operations,

Parks, 3p, Works

• Real time images uploaded through cell phones by field

staff with latitude, longitude, date and time stamp

• Received appreciation of citizens, media, non-officials,

officials

• Representatives from Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Odissa,

Madhya Pradesh, J&K, Chattisgarh, Rajasthan, Andaman

& Nicobar and Bhutan appreciated the initiative

• http://www.osrt.in:8080/igms

Achievements

9

• OSRT has come to stay and operational for over an year

and met stake holder acceptance

• Building permissions issued within four days without

inspection which are validated through images of site

conditions photographed through OSRT within 15 days of

building plans release

• Attained break even status in the first year of operation

Benefit & Costs

10

• Ease of monitoring w.r.t. town planning, street lighting,

parks, 3p

• Workforce attendance improved from 85% to 98%

• Dumper bin lifting improved from 76% to 98%

• Rs.79lakhs expenditure incurred on the project till May,

2011

• Rs.130lakhs recovered till May, 2011 from contractors due

to Service Level Agreement violations such as, irregular

attendance, non lifting of bins, improper sweeping of roads

etc. and cell phone cost and monthly rentals

Benefit & Costs

11

• 50 un-authorised buildings demolished

• 90 criminal cases filed against property owners for

constructing buildings without permission

• Substantial reduction in citizen complaints on sanitation

and street lighting in newspapers, E mail and paper

grievances receipts

• System generated real time reports

• Information access to citizens and non-officials

Outcome

12

• Heralding in an IT enabled era of accountability,

answerability and transparency

• Initiative gained stake holders confidence – not a single

instance deriding/denouncing the initiative reported so far

• Availability of real time and authentic data across all levels

of administration

• Perceptible impact on attendance of workforce and dumper

bin clearing

• Reduction in complaints on public health and non-glowing

street lights

• De-mystification of town planning activities

• Information access to all stake holders

OSRT - Comments

13

Comment of Dr. Isher Judge Ahluwalia renowned economist

in a surprise visit to Hyderabad in February, 2011 who had

observed in field the capturing of images through mobile

phones using OSRT.

“Even as the wrongdoings in the telecom sector generate

anger and dismay, Hyderabad‟s city governance initiative

using mobile phones provides a breath of fresh air on what

the telecom revolution can do for India. The Off-Site Real

Time Monitoring (OSRT) system is a unique but simple

mobile-based IT initiative which uses a combination of

GPS (Global Positioning System) and GPRS (General

Packet Radio Services) technologies through cell phones

for managing civic amenities in the city in a transparent

and efficient manner.”

Replicability

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• Availability of over 70crore mobile connections in India

• OSRT is a cheap and cost effective solution

• Simple technology

• Easy – to use mobile phones with GPS/GPRS connectivity

• Complete and reliable information on civic activities and

outputs available in public domain at a single point

• Upward and downward accountability

Challenges

15

• Attitude of urban managers

• Non Officials

• Governance procedures

• Workforce

• Unions

Thank you

16