A Guiding Tool

for
the Study of
Smart and Resilient Cities
VISAHKAPATNAM TOWARDS SMART AND RESILIENT CITY,
by Dr. Rajendra Krishna Akula, Director, Centre for Cities Development and
Coordination India, 50-14-6/11/5, Seethammapeta, Visakhapatnam – 530 016.
www.ccdcindia.in; e-mail: ark62001@gmail.com;
Ph: +91 891 2701658; (M) +91 8885582589

First Edition: May, 2016

Price : Not applicable ( Book Release Copies)

The publication is only a research study meant for guidance to the academic and
urban development community for making the global cities, ‘ Smart and Resilient’.

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 VISAKHAPATNAM
TOWARDS
SMART AND RESILIENT CITY

by
Dr. Rajendra Krishna Akula
 Preface

The concept of Smart Cities is gaining importance in the global context for the
past few years, and also in recent years in India, particularly after the Governments
identifying the need to build urban resilience in cities in view of the increasing global
warming and climate change, and consequential impacts of serious shocks and threats.
We are aware that we are solely responsible for creating this ecological imbalances
through various manmade creations of modern living, which have slowly changing the
global environment leading to a change in the ecological balance. Having experienced
serious risks of severe shocks and threats and consequential heavy loss of person and
property, we have realized our mistakes and started actions for rectifying our mistakes of
anti environmental deeds. At this stage, we are also aware that though we cannot regain
the original shape of God-gifted nature, we can at least start our peaceful living by
adopting such methods, which would adapt to the changed ecological imbalances and
trying to search for ways and means to regain the loss in the beautiful nature created by
the Almighty for our happy living.
The concept of ‘Urban Resilience’ is gaining momentum with the ecological
imbalances created by the mankind, resulting in various challenges of chronic stresses
and acute environmental shocks such as earthquakes, floods, disease outbreaks, terrorist
attacks, high unemployment, chronic food and water shortages, endemic violence and so
on. We have realized that these challenges can be tackled only through building and
enhancing the overall cities resilience systems to withstand, respond and adapt to these
shocks and stresses to emerge stronger of tough times, and leave better in good times, as
postulated by the “100 Resilience Cities” founded by Rockefeller foundation.
Having realized the urgent need to build and enhance the urban resilience by the
cities, which are vulnerable to acute shocks and stresses, the global leaders have
intensified their efforts through a common platform to contribute their share in making
the cities more resilient across the World. The pledge of commitment of controlling the
global warming through implementation of various climate change mitigation and
adaptation systems in global cities, is paving way for formulating sound environmental
policies by the developed and developing nations, particularly with reference to the rapid
urbanization in the developing countries in Asian and African sub-continents.
Incidentally, the Government of India introduced the concept of development of
smart cities, as part of its urban development policy, which strongly encourages the
concept of urban resilience in all the selected smart cities in India. The city of
Visakhapatnam, which has been selected for development as one of the smart cities by the
Government of India is striving to build the city resilience as part of its smart city
planning.
I have made a sincere attempt to explain through my present book titled -
“Visakhapatnam towards Smart and Resilient City”, as to how the beautiful city of
Visakhapatnam situated near the coastal belt of Bay of Bengal in India is building its
resilience for the past several years, and more so after experiencing the recent shock of
Hud Hud cyclone during the year 2014. I have tried to put all my efforts to provide as
much data as possible relating to the present study of important topics of urban
agglomeration, severe shock of Hud Hud cyclone, Smart City practices, Capacity
Building approach for community participation and Resilient City strategies of
Visakhapatnam. The book provides a case study of the city of Visakhapatnam, which I
feel, can be considered as a guiding tool, while framing ‘smart and resilient strategies’
by the global cities having similar vulnerable and urbanization conditions.
I acknowledge my sincere thanks to all the authorities of the Government of
India, Government of Andhra Pradesh and the local Government of Visakhapatnam, who
have extended their valuable support in bringing out this book, which I hope, would be of
a little use by the cities of homogenous in nature, in terms of urbanization, vulnerability
and smart and resilience building.

- Rajendra Krishna Akula, Phd.,

 PRESENTATION

Visakhapatnam, also reputedly called as Vizag, a major urban

agglomeration both in terms of area and population, is considered as 12th largest city
in India. The city is situated on the east coast of Bay of Bengal, equidistance
between two metropolitan cities-Chennai and Kolkata. Visakhapatnam is located at a
distance of 587 Kms (365 miles) from Hyderabad, which is the common State capital
of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana States in India. It is 363 Kms (226 miles) from
Amaravathi, the proposed reorganized State capital of Andhra Pradesh. The city is
the fastest developing urban centre in the reorganized State of Andhra Pradesh in
the Indian subcontinent, considered to be the largest in an area of 620 Sq. Kms with
a population of 2.16 million. Visakhapatnam is also called as ‘the City of Destiny’
which is popularly known for its natural beauty stretched around 150 kms of blue sea
coast of Bay of Bengal. The green hills surrounding the entire city alongside the
beaches with a picturesque, is a jewel on the east coast of India, recently hosted
International Fleet Review (IFR)-2016 with participation of naval officials from 54
countries across the world. The city Government of Visakhapatnam could
successfully handle the International Fleet Review-2016 with its vast urban
development and large infrastructure background.
Visakhapatnam city is gaining importance in terms of accelerating growth
of urbanization for the past one decade, besides its prominence on account of its
scenic beauty. The inherent capacity of recovery of its 43% green area within a short
period of one year of experiencing the severe shock of Hud Hud cyclone during the
year 2014, is drawing the attention of the urban and environmental researchers in
identifying the reasons for such a quick recovery. The city is also emerging as a
Smart and Resilient city with its selection as one of the cities for development as
smart city by the Government of India. This presupposes grounding certain important
resilience building projects such as solid waste management, waste to energy, low
carbon mobility planning, energy saving systems such as LED and solar lighting and
green area development.
The book tries to explain the purpose, need, scope and objectives together
with the practical solutions for evolving an effective urban resilience policy for the city
of Visakhapatnam, based on the chronological events that took place in recent times
with regard to the smart and resilient city development during pre and post Hud Hud
cyclone.
Chapter -1 describes the urban agglomeration of the city of
Visakhapatnam providing details of physical features, etymology and history, location
and topography, demography, economy and land use, components of growth,
urbanization, literacy, emerging urban development issues and concerns, smart city
economic drivers, occupational structure, industrial and commercial activities,
tourism, traffic and transportation and a brief description of vision of the city of
Visakhapatnam.

 
 Chapter -2 provides a detailed description of occurrence of the severe
shock of the recent Hud Hud cyclone in the city of Visakhapatnam together with a
complete description of the cyclonic phenomena in the coast of Bay of Bengal, the
severity and the devastation created by the cyclone and the relief and rehabilitation
action taken by the State and the local Governments.
Chapter -3 tries to explain the smart city concepts introduced by the
Government of India and the steps taken by the local government in transforming the
city of Visakhapatnam as a smart city, besides the need for making space for
building urban resilience in the smart city development process in the context of
vulnerability of the city towards ecological shocks and threats. A brief statement of
smart and resilient city development approach in terms of the proposed projects is
also worked out for a proper understanding of the concept.
. Chapter -4 deals with the purpose, need, scope and objectives of
building urban resilience in the city of Visakhapatnam together with the ongoing
resilience practices in the city, and the projects that are under pipeline for enhancing
the city resilience. An attempt is made to bring out the important document of city
resilience strategy with the help of the ongoing projects and also the future projects
identified in the smart city development of Visakhapatnam.
Chapter -5 concludes with the role of community participation with
reference to capacity building approach implemented in the smart city development
process by the local Government of Visakhapatnam. This chapter explains as to how
the smart and resilient city practices can be implemented successfully through the
capacity building functional system as part of effective local urban governance. The
study concludes that there is a positive relation between resilience and climate
change, between resilience and global warming, between resilience and risk,
between resilience and between resilience and risk based on the behavioral
patterns of the human beings. The hypothesis that urban resilience and recovery
through human behavior has a positive impact on the well being of not only entire
mankind but also the entire living things on the earth.

***

 
1. URBAN AGGLOMERATION OF VISAKHAPATNAM

Visakhapatnam... the city of destiny...

A jewel on the east coast....
A picturesque of beautiful beaches....
with eye catching green hills ....
evolving into smart city with a greater drive of resilience....
recovered from the deadly shock of Hud Hud cyclone

Visakhapatnam, also reputedly called as Vizag, is one of the largest

aggloramations both in terms of area and population, and considered as the 15th
largest city in India. It is situated on the east coast of Bay of Bengal, at an
equidistance between two metropolitan cities-Chennai and Kolkata. Visakhapatnam
is located 587 Kms (365 miles) from the Hyderabad, which is the common State
capital of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana States in India. It is 363 Kms (226 miles)
from the proposed reorganized State capital of Andhra Pradesh. The city is fast
developing urban centre in the reorganized State of Andhra Pradesh in the Indian
subcontinent, considered to be the largest in area and population among thirteen
districts of the State. Visakhapatnam city is also called ‘City of Destiny’ which is
popularly known for its natural beauty stretched around 100 kms of Blue sea coast of
Bay of Bengal. The green hills surrounding the entire city alongside the beaches with
a picturesque, is a jewel on the east coast of India.

Visakhapatnam's economy ranks as the

tenth-largest among Indian cities, with a GDP of
$26 Billion (USD). Visakhapatnam is the
principal commercial hub of the state, and
contributes to its economy in many sectors such
as heavy industries, tourism, minerals, fishing,
and information technology. Visakhapatnam
Port is the fifth busiest port in India in terms of
cargo handled. The city serves as the
headquarters for Eastern Naval Command of
the Indian Navy and has the historical ship

3
building yard and the only natural harbour on the east coast of India. Visakhapatnam
is considered as the financial capital of the State of Andhra Pradesh. Vizag is a
fast developing port city with a present population of around 2.00 million and with a
land area of 620 square kilometres. Visakhapatnam is the country’s one of the
largest port cities and the largest urban agglomeration in terms of land and
population in the State of Andhra Pradesh. On account of rapid industrialisation,
there has been significant migration into the city. The city was originally a small
fishing village and because of the existence of natural harbour, it developed into a
major port. It has experienced rapid industrialisation with the growth of major
industries, including steel, petroleum refining and fertiliser. With the formation of
“Greater Visakhapatnam” in the year 2005, and with the proposed status of ‘Smart
City’ by the Government of India, besides the technical support extended by the
Government of United States of America, the urban development of the city is set for
a quantum leap.

Visakhapatnam District
Visakhapatnam district is an
important industrial, commercial and
natural resource centre in the state. It
is the largest district in terms of urban
population in the reorganized State of
Andhra Pradesh. As per Census 2011,
Visakhapatnam district had a
population of 42.90 lakhs, which
accounts for 9% of the total state
population. The population of the
district has increased from 38.32 lakhs
in 2001 to 42.90 lakhs in 2011,
registering a decadal growth of 12%.
The share of urban population is about
47.5%, which is far higher than the state average of 29.6%. As indicated in the table
below, the urban population has increased from 15.31 lakhs in 2001 to 20.36 lakh in
2011 registering a growth rate of 33%.

4
Climatic Conditions of the District
The district has variations in climatic conditions in different parts. Near
Coast, air is moist and relaxing, but gets warmer moving towards interior and cools
down in the hilly areas on account of elevation and greenary. April to June are the
warmest months. The Temperature dropsdown with the onset of South West
Monsoon and tumbles to a mean minimum of 21.0oC by December / January after
which there is reversal trend till the temperature reaches mean maximum of 42oC by
the end of June.

Rainfall
• Visakhapatnam collects an average of 955 mm (37.6 in) of rainfall per
year, or 79.6 mm (3.1 in) per month.
• On average there are 65 days per year with more than 0.1 mm (0.004 in)
of rainfall (precipitation) or 5.4 days with a quantity of rain, sleet, snow etc.
per month.
• The driest weather is in December when an average of 4 mm (0.2 in) of
rainfall (precipitation) occurs.
• The wettest weather is in October when an average of 179 mm (7 in) of
rainfall (precipitation) occurs.

5
Wind Speed Details

Period Climate Details Measurement

ESE → E&SE Wind 3-6 m/s

January
Speed

March - August SSW & SW → S >6 m/s

October North – West < 3 m/s

General average 6 m/s

Wind Speed Max : 8.5 m/s

Humidity 80 – 96%
Annual Average
0 0
Temperature 19 C - 38 C

Rain Fall 100 – 150 mm

Rain Fall

Year Highest Lowest

Maximum Minimum

2015 45.4 23.2

2014 44.5 22.8

2013 47.2 21.7

2012 42.8 23.4

2011 39.7 22.0

2010 38.9 23.6

2009 39.8 24.2

2008 38.5 22.9

2007 41.4 23.1

2006 40.2 22.8

2005 38.2 24.5

All
time 47.0 21.7
record

6
Physical Features of the District
The District presents two distinct Geographic divisions. The strip of the land
along the coast and the interior called the plains division and hilly area of the
Eastern Ghats flanking it on the North and West called the Agency Division. The
Agency Division consists of hilly regions covered by the Eastern Ghats with an
altitude of about 900 metres dotted by several peaks exceeding 1200 metres.
Sankaram Forest block topping with 1615 metres embraces the Mandals of Paderu,
G. Madugula, Pedabayalu, Munchingput, Hukumpeta, Dumbriguda, Araku Valley,
Ananthagiri, Chinthapalli, G.K. Veedhi, and Koyyuru erstwhile Paderu, Araku Valley
and Chinthapalli taluks in entirety. Machkhand River which on reflow becomes
Sileru, drains and waters the area in its flow and reflow and is tapped for Power
Generation. The other division is the plains division with altitude nowhere
exceeding 75 metres watered and drained by Sarada, Varaha and Thandava
Rivers and rivulets Meghadrigedda and Gambheeramgedda. Since no major
Irrigation system exists significant sub regional agronomic variations exist in this
division. Along side the shore lies a series of salt and sandy swamps. The coast line
is broken by a number of green hills of Eastern Ghats, the important of them being
the Dolphin's Nose which had afforded the establishment of Natural Harbour in
Visakhapatnam besides, Rushikonda Polavaram Rock and the big Narasimha hill
at Bheemunipatnam. Administratively, the District is divided into 3 Revenue
Divisions and 43 Mandals.

Soils
Red Loamy soils predominate with coverage of 69.9% of the villages of the
district. The Soils are poor textured and easily drained. Sandy loamy soils come
next with 19.2% villages coverage, largely confined to the coastal areas of
Nakkapalli, Payakaraopeta,S.Rayavaram, Rambilli, Atchutapuram, Paravada,
Visakhapatnam, Pedagantyada, Gajuwaka and Bheemunipatnam Mandals and to
certain stretches in the interior Mandals of Chodavaram, Narsipatnam, K.Kotapadu
and Madugula. Black cotton soils come up next having sizeable chunks of area in
K.Kotapadu, Devarapalli, Cheedikada, Paderu and Hukumpeta Mandals. 45% of
the soils in the district are low in organic content and 55% in Phosphorous content.

Green Areas and Bio-diversity

More than the one third of the area in the District is covered by forest. The
forests are of moist and dry deciduous type. The common species available in them
are Guggilam, Tangedu, Sirimanu, Kamba, Yagisa, Nallamaddi, Gandra, Vepa etc.
Bamboo shurbs are sparsely scattered. But forest area in the district has been
showing a quiescent pecline since 1955-56 perhaps due to podu practice,
indiscriminate grazing and browsing. To stem this, regeneration programmes are
being carried out. Chinthapalli Teak Plantation is an off shoot of this. The latest
caper in this regeneration programme is raising of Teak, Silver trees, coffee
plantations, as the agency areas are found suitable agronomically for coffee
growth. Coffee plantations have been raised in about 10000 Acres in
Chinthapalli, Minimuluru, Devarapalli and Ananthagiri regions by different agencies
for different purposes. By the forest Department to conserve soil, by the Coffee
board to evolve cultures suited to on-traditional areas and by the Girijan Corporation

7
and the Integrated Tribals Development Agency to wean out tribal from the
pernicious practices of "Podu Cultivation.”
A rich Bio-diversity index exists in the Visakhapatnam in view of around 43%
of forest area throughout the district. Besides conservation of the social forestry in
the district, the Government maintains a natural Zoo in the city of Visakhapatnam,
which protects the bio-diversity in the city limits having a rich and larger forest area
of more than 44%.

8
Etymology and History
The name Visakhapatnam was
derived from the shrine of God Visakha, built
by a King of Andhra in 4th century. The
history of Visakhapatnam stretches back to
the 6th century B.C.E., and the city finds
mention in ancient texts, such as the 4th
century B.C.E. writings
of Pā ini and Katyayana. Historically
considered part of the Kalinga region, it was
ruled by the Vengi kingdom and
the Pallava and Eastern Ganga dynasties during medieval times. Archaeological
records suggest that the present city was built around the 11th and 12th centuries
C.E. by the Chola Dynasty king Kulothunga I.
Control over the city fluctuated between
the Chola Dynasty of Tamil Nadu and
the Gajapati Kingdom of Odisha until its
conquest by the Vijayanagara Empire in the
15th century. In the 16th century, it was
conquered by the Mughals. European powers
eventually set up trading interests in the city,
and Visakhapatnam came under French rule
at the end of the 18th century.

The city was ruled by Andhra Kings of Vengi and Pallavas. The city is named
after Sri Vishaka Varma, Legend has it that Radha and Viśakha were born on the
same day, and were equally beautiful. Sri Vishaka Sakhi, is the second most
important gopi of the eight main gopikas*. She carries
messages between Radha and Krishna, and is the
most expert gopi messenger. Local residents believe
that an Andhra king, built a temple to pay homage to
his family deity Viśakha. This is now inundated under
sea water near R K Beach. Another theory is that it is
named after a women disciple of Buddha
named Viśakha. Later it was ruled by Qutb
Shahis, Mughal Empire (between 1689–
1724), Nizam (1724–1757) and France (1757–1765)
before being captured by the British in 1765. European
powers eventually set up trading interests in the city,
and Visakhapatnam came under French rule at the end
of the 18th century. The British captured
Visakhapatnam after the 1804 Battle of Vizagapatam, and it remained under British
colonial rule until India's independence in 1947 which was a part of the Northern
Circars.

*Desciples of the Lord Krishna, the Hindu God

9
Location and Topography
Visakhapatnam is situated between the Eastern Ghats to its west and the Bay
of Bengal to its east, bordering on the north with the state
of Orissa and Vizianagaram district and East Godavari District to the south. The city
coordinates lies between 17.6883° N latitude, and 83.2186° E longitude. It's
periphery consists of plains along the coast line while the interiors boast of the
beautiful hills of the Eastern Ghats which surround it on the North and the West. This
region is also called the Agency Division. It occupies an area of approximately
11,161 km2.

Vizag is located on the east coast of India, in 17o42' North latitude and 82o02'
East range of hills. Based on topographical
conditions, the city and its environs can be
divided into four categories viz., Hilly region,
Upland tracks, Rolling plains and Plains. The
Kailasa and Yarada are the major hill ranges in
the city. The Kailasa hill range stretches from
Simhachalam to MVP Colony on the north flank
of the city. The city, which appears like a small
basin, is surrounded by the Yarada hill popularly
known as Dolphin’s nose (358m) on the side of the Kailasgiri hills on the north, with
the Bay of Bengal forming the eastern wall. The coastal line runs from north- east to
south west over a distance of six kilometres. On the west there is an extensive tidal
basin called ‘Upputeru’ now under reclamation. Beyond Yarada there is a valley
followed by another range of hills.
Visakhapatnam Today
Visakhapatnam is emerging as a ‘Smart City’ among the hundred Indian
cities selected by the Government of India, and one of the three important Indian
cities identified for support by
the Government of United
States of America for technical
support to develop as an
international smart city in the
Indian subcontinent. The city is
experiencing rapid growth of
urbanization during the past
two to three decades and the
trend is gaining further
momentum after the recent
reorganization of state of
Andhra Pradesh with the active support of Government of India on account of its
strategic importance.
Visakhapatnam is one of the fastest growing cities in Andhra Pradesh,
steadily with a current population of 18.69 Lakhs as per the manual of statistics of
the Visakhapatnam district, 2010-11 and projected to raise around 22.00 lakhs by

10
the end of the year 2022. After merger of the municipalities- Anakapalli and Bheemili
during the year, the total city area has been increased to 620 Sq. Km from 534
Sq.Km. As the city is blessed with a picturesque topography, it is one of the favourite
destinations of domestic and International tourism. Being a second largest port in
Country and a strategic location proposed PCPIR project will boost up the economic
growth of the city in upcoming years.

The City is currently lagging behind in the infrastructure development. Due to

rapid growth of urbanization, there is an immediate need to strengthen the urban
infrastructure compatible with increased area and urbanization of the city in the
upcoming years. Visakhapatnam was
once a small Fishing Village. Vizag
Municipality was constituted in the year
1866, and has been upgraded to
Municipal Corporation status during the
year 1979. With the merger of Gajuwaka
municipality and 32 surrounding Villages,
Visakhapatnam as attained “Greater”
status and formed as Greater
Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation
during the year 2005. Government
issued orders merging the areas covered under Anakapalle Municipality and
Bheemunipatnam Municipality and 10 Gram Panchayats in the limits of GVMC in the
year 2013. With the merger of the above municipalities, the extent of GVMC has
been increased from 534 Sq.Kms to 620 Sq.Kms and the Population has been
increased from 15.30 Lakhs to 18.69 Lakhs.

Urban Resilience Practices

Visakhapatnam, while on its way set for smart with international support of
standards and evolving itself a holistic and futuristic vista of India with a greater
drive through urban resilience practices and reforms, experienced an unexpected
shock of severe tropical cyclone-Hud Hud along the coast of this beautiful and
sleepy city. The severity of the cyclone and devastation are so considerably huge
that a state of paranoia has been created in the minds of the citizens in and
around Visakhapatnam. However, the panicky created by this severe calamity
did not continue for long and the city could recover immediately with the timely
crisis management actions undertaken by the State and City administrations. The
devastated city could recover its captivating and eye catching natural beauty
within a short span of one year in view of the inherent eco-resilience system
associated with application of accepted principles of urban resilience by all the
sections of the society and the Governments.
The Pre and Post urban resilience principles implemented and the
consequential outcome of quick recovery in this beautiful city of Visakhapatnam
have created a great wonder among all the sections of the of the society. The
present situation prompted for detailed research and study which proved the
hypothesis- “Urban Resilience is the way for safe and healthy living”. A detailed
description of urban resilience practices followed in the city of Visakhapatnam
during pre and post Hud Hud cyclone has been dealt at appropriate sections in
the later part of the book.

11
Demography, Economy and Land Use
Visakhapatnam, once a small fishing village, has evolved into a major port city
over the decades. It is also the administrative headquarters of the Visakhapatnam
district. The city is located at a distance of 386 kms from the proposed reorganised
State capital named Amaravathi.

The city is strategically located midway between two metropolitan cities in India,
Calcutta and Chennai. The total area of the city at present is 620 sq.km. It is well
connected by all modes of surface transport - East coast railway, national highway
No.5 and domestic air linkages. This strategic geographical location coupled with the
availability of the other associated factors in logistics has enabled the city to attract
large commercial investments and the major public and private sector industries. In
recent years, there has been a spurt in investments in the city and its surrounding
areas giving further impetus to transform the city as a future mega city.
Population trend of Visakhapatnam City

Source: City Development Plan, 2013 (CRISIL)

Visakhapatnam city is currently ranked as the largest urban agglomeration in

the reconstituted State of Andhra Pradesh. The Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal
Corporation (GVMC) consists of the Municipal Corporation of Visakhapatnam (MCV),
32-merged Villages and the erstwhile Gajuwaka Municipality. The population of
Vizag urban agglomeration increased from 1.05 million in 1991 to 1.32 million in
2001. The growth of population was more than 80% during 1971-81 and 37.11%
during 1991-2001. Due to formation of GVMC and merger of surrounding villages,
several well established urban components of the city are located within the GVMC.
The details of population of the Municipal Corporation Visakhapatnam and now
functioning as the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation are given in the
following table:

12
 Sl. Area Population
Geographical unit
No. (Sq.kms) (in lakhs/millions)

1 Municipal Corporation Vizag (MCV) – Prior

111 9.69/0.97
to 2005
2 Visakhapatnam Urban Agglomeration 503 13.62/1.36
3 Greater Visakha Municipal Corporation
534 14.50/1.45
(GVMC) After 2005
4 Visakhapatnam Urban Development
1701 22.02/2.20
Authority (VUDA)
5 Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal
Corporation after merger of Anakapalli and
620 18.69/1.87
Bheemili Municipalities and surrounding ten
villages
Source: Census 2011

A key feature of population growth in Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal

Corporation is that the people living in surrounding areas, especially from the nearby
districts are migrating in search of livelihood owing to rapid growth of industrialisation
to the city of Visakhapatnam. Comparative to other surrounding Municipalities of
Vizianagaram, Anakapalli and Beemunipatnam the decadal population growth in
Vizag City is phenomenal during the year 1991-01 at 75% compared to
Vizianagaram at 37.2%, Anakapalli at 15% and Bheemunipatnam 20%.

Land Use

13
 The growth rate of population experienced by VMC during 1991 and 2001 will
continue in future though at a lesser rate. The projections indicate that the Greater
Visakhapatnam City area would have a population of 16.61 lakhs in 2011 and 20.99
lakhs in 2021.
Population Projections
Area Total Population Density
Component (sq.km) (in lakhs) (Population /sq. km)
2001 2006 2001 2006 2011 2021 2001 2006 2011 2021
Municipal
111 540 9.69 14.5 16.61 20.99 8765 2685 3075 5537
Corporation
VUDA 1701 1701 22.02 26.21 30.58 34.99 1293 1540 1797 2057

Source: Census 2011

Components of Growth
An analysis of composition of population growth indicates that natural growth
contributed about 70 percent while migration contributed 30 percent between the
years 1981-1991. However, the contribution of natural growth has come down
significantly in the years 1991-2001 to 47 percent, mainly due to jurisdictional
change. The contribution of migration has come down from 30 to 20 percent. This
indicates that the urban growth in GVMC will take place even if measures are taken
to control migration. Hence long term and strategic planning is necessary to promote
equitable economic growth and service delivery.
One of the key reasons for inadequate service delivery outcomes in the local
Government is the overlapping arrangements in functions, roles and responsibilities
of the institutions resulting in poor accountability. The absence of an effective
coordination mechanism, amongst city Government and other State, national and
international level agencies has implications for orderly spatial development,
coordinated infrastructure provision, local economic growth and development.
Keeping in view the urgent need to ensure spatial of this important city in the State,
the present State Government of newly reconstituted Andhra Pradesh is introducing
several reforms for improvement of efficiency levels in governance of local city,
provincial and state administrations and functional innovative institutional
arrangements for achieving better service outcomes.
The Smart City status attained by the city has more implications for
improvement of urban infrastructure facilities as per the norms defined by the
Government of India, and the local government and other administrative centres
such as education, traffic and transport, health and environment, water and
electricity are the key areas for development with active involvement of local
administrations of the city of Visakhapatnam. The local Government is actively
engaged in the preparation of tool kits for implementation of smart city facilities in the
urban environment.

14
Gender Ratio
The gender ratio in Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation is 971 in 2001,
which is substantially higher than the gender ratio in the year 1991. However, the
ratio in 2001 is below the state average of 978.
Gender ratio
Gender
Year
Ratio
980 1951 978
Sex …
960
940 1961 920
920 1971 921
900
880
1981 925
1951 1971 1991 1991 939
2001 971
Literacy
Census figures for 1991 & 2001 for Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation
and the rest of the state reveal that general literacy and female literacy have
improved. Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation leads in literacy in Andhra Pradesh,
with 76.60% in 2001. Male literacy in the agglomeration is approximately 83.46%,
while female literacy is considerably lower at 69.59%.
Literacy Rate
Percentage of Literates
Year
Male Female Total
1971 61.59 39.77 51.12
1981 65.57 45.65 55.96
1991 71.99 57.56 65.00
2001 83.46 69.59 76.60
2011 85.22 73.39 79.30
Source: Census 2011

15
Emerging Issues and Concerns
Visakhapatnam has experienced high growth in population and the same
trend is expected to continue over the next two decades. It is projected that by 2021
Visakhapatnam would emerge as one of the major cities in the country. Most of this
growth would take place in Greater Visakhapatnam area in view of the increasing
trend of urban agglomeration. However, this has serious implications for service
delivery both for city core as well as peripheral areas since the traffic and population
flows occur between them. This calls for integrated planning of the Greater
Visakhapatnam with a focus on equitable provision of services to all the areas and all
the sections of the population, which is the impetus of the proposed smart city status.

Smart City Economic Drivers

The following future economic development activities are under active
progress by the present State Government under the guidance and support of
Government of India.

Occupational Structure
According to 2001 census, the work force in Visakhapatnam city is about
3,44,729 of which maximum proportion of workers is found to be in tertiary services
which includes services and trade and commerce. The services sector is the largest
sector contributing 30 percent of the workforce while a significant and equal
proportion of workers are found in three sectors viz. trade and commerce,
manufacturing and transport and communications with 13 percent each. A significant
feature of the occupational structure is that the work force in primary sector
constitutes nearly 20 percent of the total workforce. This significant presence is due
to the merging of nearby villages and fishing related activities.

Port&&
Port
Industries
Industries

Education Education
Support
Infrastructure

VIZAG

IT/ITS
IT/ITS Tourism
Tourism

R&D

16
 Economic Base Occupational Distribution

No. of
Occupation category workers % of total
(lakh)
Primary sector 69,792 20.24
Household industry 13,943 4.04
Manufacturing 46,137 13.38
Electricity, gas and water 3,829 1.11
supply
Construction 20,289 5.88
Transport, storage and 43,847 12.71
communication
Banking insurance 720 0.20
Trade and business 44,588 12.93
Services 1,01,584 29.46
Total 3,44,729
Source: Annual Report, The Hindu, 2005
ECONOMY
The city is experiencing tremendous
economic growth. The sectors contributing to
city’s economic growth are agriculture and
fishing (primary sector), large, medium and
small scale industries (secondary sector) and
services (tertiary sector) that include trade and
commerce, transport, telecommunication
management and consultancy services,
education, etc. It has experienced rapid
industrialization with the onset of major
industries viz., Oil Refinery -- a private sector
fertilizer factory, Hindustan Zinc Smelter and
Visakhapatnam Steel Plant. The construction
of the outer harbour and Steel Plant has
considerably changed the character of the city.
On account of rapid industrialization, there has been tremendous amount of
migration into the city.

The economic impetus in Visakhapatnam over the past three decades has
provided numerous employment opportunities, which are clearly visible in the
population growth rates for the past three decades. The demographic trends of
growth essentially follow the geographical expansions, which were the result of
various developmental initiatives in the infrastructure and on the industrial front.
During the first quarter of the century', a very slow increase is recorded as there was
no major event except the opening of the East Coast Railway line. During the second
quarter of the century, a steady rise is recorded till Independence was observed, with
the establishment of major institutions under public sector. A significant growth of the

17
city after partition, which lasted during the third quarter of the century, is due to the
development of port activities and industrialization. The policies of the present
Government towards growth of industry, commerce and trade with public private
participation are giving boost to new investors who are willing to invest in Andhra
Pradesh. Visakhapatnam is becoming a city of great opportunities for trade
commerce, and industry in all the areas of manufacturing, information technology
and tourism, etc.

The City having an investment of Rs. 20,000 Crores, is the industrial capital of
the State. The City is recognised as the fifth-fastest growing "Industrial Metropolis" in
the Asian subcontinent and the fastest growing industrial city on the East coast of
India strategically located midway between Calcutta and Chennai. The areas of
economic growth are indicated the geographical advantage with a natural harbour
and bountiful infrastructural facilities helped the city acquire industrial importance
and well known place in the international market. The ideal industrial climate has led
to the development of core industries. Rich deposits of iron and aluminium ores in
close proximity and good rail and road connectivity and Export oriented Zones and
EXIM parks present interesting possibilities for setting up major industries.
The basic requirements which are necessary for establishing an industry are
the power supply, raw materials, transportation facilities etc are available in
Visakhapatnam and very large plants have come to be established in the city. The
industries under public sectors such as Hindustan Ship Yard, Bharat Heavy
Electricals, Vizag Steel Plant, Visakhapatnam Port Trust, etc., are providing potential
employment opportunity for nearly one lakh workers, and there is a further increase
in the employment potential to the extent of two Lakhs persons with formulation of
new trade policies of the present Government.
With its long coast line, fishing, travel and tourism are major economic
activities of Visakhapatnam. There are handful opportunities for development of
brackish water, prawn culture, pisci culture since this is an export oriented and a lot
of investment can be poured into it.
The state as well the city government have made concerted efforts to make
Visakhapatnam the second economic development hub in the areas of Information
Technology Enabled Services, Pharma and Biotechnology, development of
Consumer goods and Ancillary industries including tourism. Significant efforts in this
direction include some of the recent projects supported by the Corporation which
include Up-gradation of the local Airport, setting up of VSEZ, Simhadri Power Plant,
Special Economic Zone, Pharma City at Parawada, Gangavaram Port, Gems and
Jewellery Park and Apparel Export Park amongst other Projects. There is a
possibility of a few more manufacturing units being located in the close proximity to
the City.

18
 The transport infrastructure has permitted industrial investment and growth in
the region. In addition to the international and national linkages, the local
government has undertaken several initiatives to upgrade the municipal roads and
public utilities and amenities to international standards.
Industrial Activities
The industrial activities are one of the prime economic activities of the city.
The total number of industrial units in the city stood at 1,775. The total investment of
this sector is about Rs. 8,021.77 crores, of which about 8,005.32 crores (99.79 per
cent) is in large and medium-scale industries alone and the rest is in small-scale
industries. The total work force engaged in industrial activities is about 44,275
persons, of which 30,110 per sons (68.01 per cent) are found in large and medium-
scale industries and the rest in small-scale industries. Among the 55 large and
medium manufacturing industries, 8 units are in the public sector, 42 in the private
sector and 5 in the cooperative sector. Public sector dominates in investment and
employment accounting for 85% of the investment and 68% of employment. Major
public sector undertakings like Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, National Thermal Power
Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, Hindustan Zinc, Hindustan Shipyard,
Bharat Heavy Plates and Vessels are located in and around the city. Other projects
in the city periphery are Divi Pharmaceuticals, Thermal Power project of NTPC,
Cement plants, Ancillaries of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, Jindal Petrochemicals and
Marine based industries. There are 23 medium to major ones in the pipeline. These
basic Industries themselves have played a decisive role in facilitating the expansion
of the private sector industries such as Coramandal Fertilizers, LG Polymers India
Pvt. Ltd, Essar Iron Ore Pelletisation Plant, East India Petroleum Limited and Rain
Calcining Limited in recent years.
The minor industries include manufacturing units of rubber and plastics, coal
products, gas and steam units, automobile workshops, beverages, ship breaking
units, export processing zone, fishing trawlers, communications, aqua culture units,
airport, port conveyer belt across the city and a host of rail lines connecting the
industries for wagon movement. Around 100,000 workers live in the proximity of the
industrial units.
The city has one of the oldest industrial estates in the state providing sites
and services for establishment of small and medium scale industries. In tune with
time, APIIC has developed an Industrial Area of about 1200 acres in five Blocks in
Visakhapatnam. While blocks A, B, C & D have been fully developed.

19
Visakhapatnam Port
The Port has a natural harbour and is one of the major ports on the East
Coast of India. It is situated at the
mouth of the stream Meghadrigedda,
at the confluence point at 17o 41’34” N
latitude and 83o 17’-15” E longitude.
The harbour is protected by “Dolphin’s
nose” projecting into the sea and
having low tidal range with a maximum
of 1.83 mts, offers safe shelter to ships.
The Visakhapatnam Port was opened to
ocean going ships in October 1933.
The Visakhapatnam outer harbour is India’s deepest harbour and can
accommodate bulk carriers of 1.00
lakh DWT and more ships drawing up
to 15.3 mts. and having a length up to
263 mts. can be accommodated at
the outer harbour ore berths. The
Visakhapatnam inner harbour has an
entrance channel, a turning basin and
3 navigable areas known as the
Northern arm, North western arm and
Western arm. The construction of the
harbour was taken up in 1723 and three arms formed by 1933. It has earned
recognition for being one to the top ports for the export of marine products in India.
The volume of seafood exports through Visakhapatnam Port has increased to
26, 637 tone in 2001–02, according to the figures compiled by the Marine products
Exports Development Authority (MPEDA). Among the significant developments in
the port – the Fertilizer berth in the westerns arm of inner harbour, operated by the
Coromondal Fertilizer Ltd has come up for modernization by installing a new ship
unloaded for achieving higher productivity. Other large user groups include
Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP), Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), National
Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), and Export Processing Zone etc.
The statistics indicate that all the major ports of the country handled 281
million tonnes of various cargoes while Visakhapatnam port handled cargoes, which
is 16 percent of the all India quantum. The VPT has two harbours i.e. inner harbour
and outer harbour. It also has Naval Dockyard, Shipyard and submarine yard. At
Visakhapatnam Port, ships from more than 50 countries come every year with 321
days berth occupancy. The Port is obsessed by the dense urban development and
industrial development around. The employment in the port is around Seven
thousand.

20
Gangavaram Port
The State Government is
establishing the new deepwater grass
root port at Gangavaram adjoining the
Steel Plant under Private Public
Partnership and with the
establishment of this port; GVMC
would have two major ports
functioning under its jurisdiction. It is
situated at a distance of 15 km south
of Visakhapatnam Port. Investment planned for the port is around Rs 20,000 million
(US $400m). Construction of the first phase has been completed and the operations
have commenced.

Fishing
Fishing is one of the major
activities in the GVMC area. The
export value of the fishing products in
India is in crores of rupees, 70% of
which is from Andhra Pradesh and
major portion of this is from
Visakhapatnam. It is estimated that
around 6 lakh people of the state
depend on fishing activity of which
one fourth are in Visakhapatnam. According to an estimate, about 50 families directly
or indirectly make their livelihood on each boat that goes for fishing. There are 118
primary fishermen cooperative societies. There were 2800 mechanised boats in the
city. The Visakhapatnam coast is always a hub of fishing activity. A fishing harbour
exists to facilitate marine fishing. There are 22 fish / prawn processing units in and
around the City. These plants have
cold storage capacity ranging from 5
tonnes to 400 tones. The fishing
harbour is likely to be relocated to
Bheemunipatnam for further spatial
expansion of the Port.
A new fish-landing infrastructure
was established at Yarada essentially
to meet the requirements of fishermen
from Dibbalapalem and Gangavaram who have to shift their fishing activities due to
the establishment of the new grass root port of Gangavaram.

21
Commercial Activities
Owing to a high degree of industrial concentration, the complementary sectors
such as commercial, institutional and services sectors have also developed rapidly.
The total number of commercial
establishments in the city is about
20,000 units. The work force
engaged in this sector is about
40,000 persons. The major
categories of commercial
establishments are related to food
products (Hotels, Restaurants and
Parlours, Electronic and Consumer
Products, Construction Materials,
Hardware, Automobiles and
Personal Services. Besides this, the wholesale trading activities have also developed
substantially. The important commercial areas in the city are R.K.Beach Road,
Velampeta, Dabagardens, Suryabagh, Dwarakanagar and Gajuwaka. Similarly the
important market in the city is Poorna Market, Kurupam Market, and RTC. & TSR.
Complexes.
There is a notable shift of commercial business district (CBD) from the then
hub of the city (now old city) to multiple CBDs. The city expanded up to Poorna
Market, the only commercial centre for the entire city up to 1970s. After the
construction of Jagadamba Theatre, the city’s major activities moved towards north
and the commercial activity spread up to the so-called Jagadamba centre in 1970s.
Thereafter the city expanded further northwards after the construction of the RTC
Complex and the tallest LIC building in 1980’s. The entire Dabagardens has become
a hub of electronic goods trade. In 1990’s, the prestigious NH5 road project brought
the city shifts towards further to the north. With the proposed construction of IT
towers in the old TB hospital area, the city is destined to create a hub for IT activity.
The city has developed itself as a cluster of differentiated zones which could
be broadly categorized as follows:
Area Activity
Port area Fishing
Waltair upland Educational
Jagadamba Commercial and Shopping
Dwarakanagar Commercial and Shopping
Beach road Recreation, tourism and Hotels
Gajuwaka Industrial zone
Simchalam Religious Centre
Rushikonda IT Zone
Madhurawada Upcoming Residential Zone
Bhogapuram Proposed International Airport

22
Tourism
Vizag, sandwiched between the promontory called Dolphin’s nose and the
Kailashgiri Hills, is one sea together and that makes for a spectacular view from
even within the city. The beaches of Vizag Rama Krishna, Lawson’s Bay, Rishikonda
and Gangavaram are beautiful beaches of India.
The Simhachalam temple which is
located on the hills of Simhachalam is a 11th
Century temple dedicated to Lord Narasimha,
and Vizag is well endowed with excellent
hotels and restaurants to accommodate
national and international tourists. Recently,
many Buddhist ruins have been discovered in
and around Vizag. A more fascinating site to
visit is the village of Sankaram, where
numerous images of Buddha are seen carved in caves of the hills. Vizag is home to
the Eastern Fleet of the Indian Navy and the Naval presence has cast its influence
over the city. Overlooking the port in all its majesty is the 358 meters high
promontory of Dolphin’s Nose so called because of its uncanny resemblance to the
mammal. The lighthouse atop, which can be
visited with permission, is the highest in
India. Its beams can be seen far out at the
sea and it directs the traffic in the busy
shipping lanes of the Bay of Bengal as well
as the entrance to Vizag port.
Tourism is one of the emerging areas
in the city in terms of attracting national and
international tourists and bringing in foreign currency as well. The sector also
contributes to the increasing employment opportunities. Marketing of local products,
Hospitality and transport services, etc. are some of the areas of employment
generation in connection with tourism. Some
tourist attractions in the city are given in
annexure.
As the area around the city has vast
potential for development of tourism, various
places of historical and religious importance
in the region have been taken into
consideration to prepare a new theme based
initiative for the development of Tourism and
Recreation. It is proposed to develop the following dedicated tourism transits in this
direction. The transits are the following.

23
 • Buddhism transit covering various Buddhist sites area in Visakhapatnam.
• Religious transit covering famous religious locations.
• Coastal recreational transit along the coast inclusive of development of
marinas
• Historical and heritage transit covering places of interest.
• Eco transits cover areas like Marsh lands an mangroves,, Zoological parks,
Reserve Forests and the Eastern Ghats and marine faunal occurrences
Surrounded by virgin beaches the city offers immense potential for the hospitality
industry.
Archaeological and historical
monuments play a major role in
enhancing the tourist’s experience of the
City\ region. Since Archaeological
preservation and the development of
tourism are not mutually exclusive
process, there is a strong case for the
Department of Tourism facilitating
preservation and protection of
monuments that have not yet been
taken up by the Archaeological Survey
of India or by the Archaeological
Department of the State. Towards this
end, initiatives taken during the current
year are noteworthy. Driven by the spirit
of “think globally but act locally”, the
local Government, in association with
the Andhra Pradesh Tourism
Department has taken up collaborative
venture for preservation and
enhancement of the common
inheritance.
Visakhapatnam possesses great
potential for tourism development which
is still untapped. It has Eastern Ghats on
one side and the blue waters of Bay of
Bengal on the other, giving the city a
magical touch. Visakhapatnam is
endowed with several rich and natural
tourist spots. Beautiful beaches,
mountains, forests, water bodies,
temples, heritage and Buddhist sites
adorn the region. However, not being a Capital City, the visibility of Vishakhapatnam

24
at International level has been low. This can be catalyzed by promoting tourism in
the region.

The tourist inflow in Vizag has witnessed an impressive growth during last 6
years from 31.75 lakh in 2008 to 67.58 lakh in 2013 registering a CAGR of about
16.3%. However, this increase is mainly attributed to the growth of domestic tourists
(from 31.5 lakh in 2008 to 67.0 lakh in 2013) which comprises more than 99% of the
total tourist arrivals in the district. Though the number of foreign tourists during 2008-
2013 has also increased, yet the number is very low in comparison to other cities
with similar potential and characteristic.
80.00 0.70
No. of Domestic Tourists (in lakh)

No. of Foreign Tourists  (in lakh)
70.00 67.01 0.57
0.60
0.54
60.00
52.49 52.73 0.50
50.00 48.40
40.02 0.40
40.00
31.46 0.29
0.30 0.26
30.00 0.22
0.20 0.18
20.00
10.00 0.10

0.00 0.00
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Year Year

No. of Domestic Tourist Arrivals in Vizag No. of Foreign Tourist Arrivals in Vizag
The various administrative departments in Vishakhapatnam like VUDA,
GVMC, forest etc have taken initiatives to develop tourism in Vizag; however there is
no major project undertaken which could have a large impact on tourism
development in and around the city. One of the main reason hindering the tourism
growth is the stringent CRZ regulations.
IL&FS IDC which was appointed by Ministry of Tourism as national level
consultant for preparing an action plan had identified 4 circuits in Andhra Pradesh
among which the Vishakhapatnam circuit (Vizag – Araku - Vizianagaram –
Srikakulam - East & West
Godavari) was identified as the priority
circuit. The strategy to develop this ARAKU, BORRA SRIKAKULAM

circuit includes:
VIZIANAGARAM

• Develop world class Beach

Tourism Infrastructure attracting BHEEMUNIPATNAM

tourists to Vizag; VISAKHAPATNAM

• Extend tourist visits to nearby

EAST GODAVARI
Destinations.
Apart from developing this circuit, the
other major projects which could be WEST GODAVARI

taken up in and around the GVMC

area boosting both the international
and domestic tourism includes:
• Tourism Park - Madhurawada
• International Convention Centre - Mudasarlova
• Sea Cruise Terminal (Local level - from Bheemli to Durga beach, Regional
level - from Vizag to Kolkata and Vizag to Chennai)

25
• Aquamarine Park - Bheemli
• Arogyadham (Health City) - Madhurawada
• Science and Entertainment Center - Kapuluppada
• Adventure Sports – Rushikonda
• Night Safari – Kambalkonda
• Day Safari – Eco Tourism center
• Beach Front Development – at Yerada & from R K Beach to Bheemli
• Multi Theme Park – Yerada
• Observatory Tower – Near Bheemli
• Bus service connecting major Temples & Tourist spots in and around Vizag
• Botanical Gardens

Potential Tourism projects in Vizag

Aquamarine Park - Bheemli

Observatory Tower -

Science and Entertainment Center -

Kapuluppada

Arogyadham - Madhurawada
Tourism Park - Madhurawada
Adventure Sports - Rushikonda

Night Safari - Kambalkonda

Day Safari - TRC
International Convention Center -
Mudasarlova

Beach Development

Sea Cruise Service

Theme Park - Yerada

Tourism proposals under beach corridor development project

26
 To Madhurawada
KOLKATA

VISAKHAPATNAM
IT Park
Access/Approach to Baymount Gated
Project Site Community
Vizag Cricket PROJECT SITE – To Bheemili
Stadium 290 Ac
CHENNAI

Visakhapatnam connected with Chennai &

Kolkata, the Major Tourists catchments
To Visakhapatnam
Shri Ram Properties To Visakhapatnam BAY OF BENGA

Proposed Tourism Park at Madhurawada Proposed Sea Cruise Terminal

Proposed Observatory Tower On R.K. Beach to Bheemli Road

Visakhapatnam SEZ
The Government of India actively
encourages the setting up of Special
Economic Zones (SEZ). These are
specially delineated duty free enclaves for
the purpose of trade and commerce, with
a liberal tax, fiscal and administrative
regime. The SEZ concept is designed to
enable its resident units to maximize their
production efficiencies through relaxed
policy framework and world-class
infrastructure. The Government has committed itself to the success of these zones
and has come up with attractive benefits for all stakeholders in these SEZ’s. These
include developers, operators, entrepreneurs and residents.

27
VSEZ is located at a distance of 24 kms from the city and 15kms from the Airport.
The broad gauge railway line from Calcutta to Madras passes by the side of the
Zone and the National Highway-5 is
at a distance of 2.6 kms from the
zone. The National Highway is
connected to the Zone. The
Visakhapatnam Port is located at a
distance of 17kms from the Zone.
The Zone is being developed in a
phased manner and accordingly
development of the first phase was
taken up. An extent of 163 acres of land has been taken up for development of
infrastructure and other facilities in the first phase.

EXIM Park
Visakhapatnam Port Trust has established an EXIM Park in 750 acres of land
for the allotment of Port based industries with an objective to promote
industrialization of the hinterland and to facilitate handling of export / import cargoes
of various industries at this Port, and to attract more cargo. The location of the Port’s
EXIM Park has been chosen in the existing industrial belt. The EXIM Park area is
connected to National Highway linking AP with Orissa, West Bengal, Madhya
Pradesh and Tamilnadu. The EXIM Park is situated 4 kms away from the Airport, 8
kms from the railway station and it is adjacent to the Northern arm, which is the main
commercial arm of the Port. The close proximity of the EXIM Park to the Port’s
waterfront area enables the entrepreneurs to have greater operational flexibility and
to reduce transport costs.
The Port’s EXIM Park provides plots to various port based industries
depending upon their requirements. Each industry will be allotted an area of not less
than 10 acres of land. A minimum cargo throughout by way of export / import is to
be guaranteed for handling at this port. GVMC (Visakhapatnam Municipal
Corporation) provides one million gallons per day of water to cater to the needs of
the Port based industries at EXIM Park. The development of Open Stacking areas,
Storage Sheds and Warehouses is also being taken up. The Port developed 20
railway lines for the “Mindi Interchange Yard” and 20 lines for the Sorting Yard with 5
sick lines for servicing and maintenance of locos and a comprehensive railway
network to serve the proposed Open Stacking Area and Storage sheds.

28
Petroleum Corridor Project (VK-PCPIR)
Visakhapatnam-Kakinada Petroleum, Chemical and Petrochemical
Investment Region (VK-PCPIR) is one of the six PCPIRs planned to be promoted in
India. VK-PCPIR is seen to be a catalyst, to position Andhra Pradesh and more
particularly Visakhapatnam as having the largest petrochemical hub of India. VK-
PCPIR spreads over an area of 640 sq. km. across parts of 7 mandals of
Visakhapatnam District and 3 mandals of East Godavari District.

The VK-PCPIR is expected to generate about 1.2 million jobs and a projected
investment of Rs. 34,30,00 crores. The VK-PCPIR region, which has already been
notified will further encourage leap and bound developments in the Visakhapatnam
industrial sector.
Though the draft master plan of VK-PCPIR proposes to have non- processing
area which shall include residential, commercial and other social infrastructure, yet
majority of this support infrastructure needs to be catered by Vizag especially the
skilled manpower requirement.

Information Technology
Information Technology Enabled
Services (IT / ITES) in the pre-
reorganised State of Andhra Pradesh is
the second most affordable place for IT
after in the South Asia sub-continent.
The recent reorganisation of the state of
Andhra Pradesh after separation of
Telangana State, the presence of
reputed national and international IT
companies are planning to commence their activities in the reorganised State of

29
Andhra Pradesh with the active support of the present Government of Andhra
Pradesh through various attractive incentives. The Andhra Pradesh industrial
infrastructure Corporation identified Rushikonda as a special IT zone in
Visakhapatnam, and the ‘start-up’ activities have gained momentum.
The need and prospect for development of IT/ITES sector in Vizag can be
attributed to following factors:
• Use of information technology is imperative for existing industries as well as
anticipated industries in the VK-PCPIR.
• Given the high pollution level in the city due to existing industrial area and with
the development of proposed VK-PCPIR, the level of pollution in the city is
bound to rise. Thus, in order to boost the economy other non-polluting sectors
need to be promoted.
• Vizag has good connectivity with sea, air, rail and road transport systems.
Besides the existing local international Airport, a larger size of International
Airport is under way of commencing its construction activity.
• The cost advantage of tier-two cities should be exploited to promote IT
exports
• The beautiful scenic surrounding and moderate temperature further boost the
prospect for development of this sector.
For over a decade, Vizag has been home to IT sector in this region with the
development of IT SEZ at Rushikonda and Madhurawada area which lies in the
north-east portion of GVMC. Despite its initial growth, the city has got stuck in the
middle of IT development following the global recession in 2008 and some other
reasons. The city has not witnessed any multinational company setting up its unit
here and nearly 75% of the 4 lakh sft built-up area developed by the IT firms at
Rushikonda IT SEZ is lying unutilized. Though Tech Mahindra and Wipro have
started operations, they are running only support systems but not full-fledged
software development operations.
Presently, it is estimated that the city has 102 small and medium software
companies as well as BPOs. With a handful of IT companies in the city, IT industry
registered an impressive growth
in financial year 2012–13.
Visakhapatnam IT/ITeS revenue
rose by 20% to Rs 1,445 crore in
2012–13 as against Rs 1,200
crore in 2011–12. The
employment generated by the
IT/ITeS industry of the city has
also increased to 16,988 jobs
during the same period.
Proposed IT/ITES
Development: A proposal for creation of Information Technology Investment Region
(ITIR) in Visakhapatnam Metropolitan area comprising of IT/ITES/Electronic
Hardware Clusters in an area of 10,995 acres (44.50 sq km) is under active
consideration. The proposal proposed to create external and internal infrastructure in
the ITIR areas with an estimated cost of Rs 19,706 crore and Rs 5,504 crore
respectively and seek financial assistance from the Central government.

30
 The Vizag ITIR will be implemented over a period of next 25 years in two
phases and after commissioning, it is expected to provide direct employment to 4.28
lakh people and indirect employment to another 17.11 lakh people. The investment
expected is 45,005 crore and revenues expected are 37,353 crore, when it fully
commences its operations by 2038.

Transportation
Significant improvement is required in both mass and private transportation. In
mass transportation, at present only 28 % population is using public transport in the
city which is proposed to be increased up to 60% with the active launching of Metro
Corridors in the city. A spurt in the usage of Air travel by the citizens of
Visakhapatnam and also the increased usage of public transportation system
indicate the improved environmental sustainability awareness.

Urban development under Smart City Proposals

Some urban reforms to be made for Vizag city so that there will be a less
pressure on existing infrastructure in core area of the city. To minimize the pressure
on natural resources in core city new CBD to be proposed in outer area of city so
that it will serve as a paradigm for Next Class city in terms of quality of life,
infrastructure and ambience aiming to be high-density and high-rise, treating land as
a precious resource. Setting these quantitative targets will help calibrate the impact
of the various initiatives and recommendations along parameters of the smart city.

Presently, there are about 6519 industrial units in total operating in

Vishakhapatnam district with a cumulative investment of about Rs. 57687 crores and
employing 131683 persons. Out of these units about 89 establishments are
categorized under large & mega industries with a total investment of about Rs.
54347 crore and employing nearly 56636 persons.

Some of the large and mega enterprises include Hindustan Shipyard Ltd,
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL), Rastiya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL),
NTPC, Bharat Heavy Plate & Vessels Ltd, National Mineral Development
Corporation Ltd, Ferro Scrap Nigam Ltd, Divis Laboratories Ltd, Sai Pharmaceuticals
(India) Pvt Ltd, Essar Steel India Ltd, Rain CII Carbon (Vizag) Ltd, Coromandel
Fertilisers Ltd, LVS Power Ltd etc.

Other than large and mega enterprises, Vizag has about 6430 operational
Micro, Small & Medium scale Industries with a cumulative investment of Rs. 3340
crores and employing 75047 persons.

Existing Industries in Vishakhapatnam

No. of Investment
Type Employment
Industries (in Crore)
Large & Mega Industries 89 54347 56636
Micro, Small and Medium 6430 3340 75047
Total 6519 57687 131683

31
 Further, about 2570 units are under implementation among which 48 are large
and mega enterprises and the expected cumulative investment is approximately
Rs. 43440 crores. These new establishments are anticipated to generate about
48745 additional jobs in and around Vizag.
The following steps are required to further promote IT / ITEs in Vizag:
• Infrastructure at existing IT SEZs at Rushikonda and Gambheeram should be
improved.
• Speedy implementation of Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR)
in Visakhapatnam Metropolitan area.
• Improvement of skill bank and overall infrastructure in Vizag and so as to
promote bigger corporate companies to make a mark in the city.
• Setting up of International Convention Centre in Vizag will give a boost to the
IT industry.
• International Airport needs to be upgraded.
• High density satellite towns with mixed land use and modern infrastructure
need to be developed around Vizag.
• Total underground cabelling in the power distribution and other
communication net work systems.

Research and Development and HRD

Research and Development: With the existing industrial base in Vizag and the
anticipated development of VK-PCPIR in the region which is also at an advance
stage, there is a strong need to focus on overall education sector and more
specifically on Research and Development activities in the city.
Visakhapatnam is considered as a center for education in Andhra Pradesh
and there are a number of primary, high schools and colleges in the city. In addition
to state-run schools there are private institutions, missionary schools and colleges.
Some of the major universities in Vizag include Andhra University (AU),
Integral Institute of Advanced Management (IIAM), Indian Maritime University (IMU),
National Institute of Oceanography, Damodaram Sanjivayya National Law University
and GITAM University.
There are more than 50 engineering colleges in Visakhapatnam providing
technical education.
Proposed Education Institutes: As part of proposed educational hub in
Visakhapatnam, the Government is planning to set up 13 prestigious educational
and R&D institutions at an estimated outlay of Rs. 7045 crore which include IIIT, IIM,
National Petroleum University, Marine University, Tribal University etc, including
important R&D institutions to develop local HRD for industrial and economic growth
in Vizag. In all about 18 vacant lands in Vizag are under study for setting up of these
institutions. Some of the Government lands under consideration include 101 acres at
Purushothampuram in Ward-70, land at Gambheeram in Anandapuram (this land is
close to Pendurti BRTS corridor), 80 acres land in Gurramapalem near Penduthi etc.
Based on the existing scenario of industrial development and future potential,
special focus should be laid upon development of R&D institutes. Apart from fast

32
tracking the development of above mentioned proposed institutes, the other
institutes can also be developed in the city especially to cater the tourism potential
and providing semi skilled / skilled workers to the industries and other
establishments:

• International Hospitality Management (with foreign tie-up)

• Institute of Hotel Management Catering & Nutrition (IHM) with Five Star Hotel
on PPP mode
• National Fire Services College
• Multi Skill Development Centres on “Hub and Spoke Model”
• Institute of Technology and Management University
• Environmental and Water Resources Engineering

Environmental Sustainability Practices

Apart from the proposed projects for implementation of Smart City practices in
the Visakhapatnam, the city Government has been widely implementing various
Green Urban Economy Initiatives as detailed below:

GVMC Initiatives of Urban Resilience

• Energy Efficiency in Buildings, Street lighting,
• Water Pumping stations
• Solid Waste Management
• Transportation - BRTS and Fleet Management through SPVs
• Sewerage Treatment Plants
• Renewable Energy Technologies
• Low Carbon Mobility Plans
• Slum clearance and Housing for Urban Poor under
• Storm Water Drainage System
• Under Ground Drainage System
• GHG Reduction through Local Action
• Plantation
• Green Enforcement
• Hawkers Zones
• Vehicle Free Zones and Vehicle Free Days
• CRZ Norms
• Replacement of Existing Conventional Street Lighting with LED Lighting
• CDP Revision with Environmentally Sustainable Approach

33
Low Carbon Mobility Strategies

• Cycling Tracks
• Cycling Zones
• Cycling Clubs
• BRTS transportation through SPVs
• Hawkers Zones
• Cycling Tracks In Visakhapatnam
• LCMP Initiatives
• LED street lighting
• Municipal Street Lighting Project
• Municipal Water Supply Project
• Building EE
• Proposed energy equipment like automatic timers, sensors of energy now
consumed in GVMC
• Replacement of LED street lighting in place of sodium vapour lighting.
• Residential EE Project
• Renewable Energy
• Climate change adaptation strategies
• climate mitigation strategies
• Vizag City Sustainability Review Project

A detailed description of Vizag Smart City practices and proposed projects are
discussed in the concluding sections of the book with regard to vision document of
aspirations of this mega city after experiencing the huge threat of Hud Hud cyclone.

***

34
 2. THE IMPACT OF HUD-HUD CYCLONE

  

At that point, we had wind speed of 205kmph....

Paralysed the Smart City with deadly devastation of
entire communication net work....
-JTWC Report in Washington Post

Visakhapatnam,, which is the largest in terms of area and population in the

reorganized State of Andhra Pradesh during the year 2014, has experienced the
severe Hud Hud cyclone, which resulted in huge destruction during the same
yea.The severe tropical cyclone that crossed Bay of Bengal near Visakhapatnam
coast on 12th October, 2014, has created a huge loss of public and private property
including human loss and injuries to the people of coastal districts of
Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam. The damage and devastation is so
much severe particularly in the city of Visakhapatnam, by which the entire urban life
of the city was paralyzed as it was for the first in its severity in the meteorology
history of the city of Visakhapatnam. The city experienced high speed of winds and
gales while crossing the coast at the central part of Visakhapatnam.
The entire State authorities, under the leadership of the Chief Minister, his
council of ministers, and all other public representatives of the State of Andhra
Pradesh including the Officers and the employee force of the State were in the
action for the entire in the city during the process of Disaster Management in all the
three districts of Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam. The effective
leadership of the Chief Minister of the State and the co-ordination of the local
district administrative authorities, involving the entire employee force of the affected
areas, duly working 24x7 for more than a period of one month, brought the situation
to normalcy in a short period of one month with the cooperation of the citizens of
Visakhapatnam.
The present chapter deals with the severity of deadly Cyclonic Storm-Hud-
Hud, and the impact of devastation in the city of Visakhapatnam, besides the efforts
of the State machinery in the recovery process. This chapter provides meaning,
definition, history of cyclones of tropical nature, and the vulnerability of the coastal
areas of Bay of Bengal across the State of Andhra Pradesh. Incidentally, a detailed
description of the Hud Hud cyclone provided by the meteorology department has

35 
 
also been discussed at length. The satellite reports of the pre and post signals of
Hud Hud cyclone have been depicted for proper understanding the severity of the
cyclone for the purpose of preparedness and timely action of the Government.
A detailed description of the quantum of devastation created by the severe
Hud Hud cyclone in the three coastal districts particularly the city of
Visakhapatnam, obtaining data and on-site pictures from various Government
departments, besides the extent of relief operations provided by the Government of
Andhra Pradesh, under the leadership of the Hon’ble Chief Minister, during pre and
post Hud Hud cyclone in the affected areas. The rehabilitation process and the
immediate recovery in terms of quantum of material and human loss of account of
the devastation have been explained at length providing data obtained from the
departments.
The deadly tropical cyclone, Hud Hud caused extensive devastation in the
North Coastal districts of Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam in the
State of Andhra Pradesh in India. The wind speed was more than 200kmph for a
few seconds, when it crossed the coast in the heart of the City of Visakhapatnam
on 14th October, 2014. The severe cyclone “Hud Hud” with high speed of winds and
gales created a havoc in the three districts, Visakhapatnam in particular, turned the
proposed Smart City to a situation of collapsed “after war field” leaving ‘nothing’ for
the people to lead their livelihood. The physical damage of the entire public and
private property was colossal. However, the human loss could be minimized with
the precautionary measures taken by the authorities of the State. Thanks to the
‘forecasting technology’ created by the mankind.
The present section deals with the severity of the Hud Hud cyclone that hit
Vizag coast on 12th October, 2014. The Indian Meteorology Department(IMD)in
Visakhapatnam continuously released the cyclone reports from the on setting of the
calamity from 6th October onwards for preparatory action plan of the State and local
Governments. Before the severity of the cyclone with reference to the IMD is
discussed, a brief description of the meaning, definition and classification of
cyclones has been provided for a more understanding regarding the present
Hudhud cyclone.

Cyclones in Indian Sub-Continent

A cyclone is an area of closed, circular fluid motion rotating in the same
direction as the earth. This is usually characterized by inward spiralling winds that
rotate counter clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern
Hemisphere of the Earth. Most large-scale cyclonic
circulations are centred on areas of low atmospheric
pressure. The cyclones are classified as Polar cyclone,
Polar lows, Extratropical cyclone, Subtropical cyclone,
Tropical cyclone and Mesoscale cyclone. However, a
majority of cyclones hit the Indian sub-continent or only
the tropical cyclones.
A tropical cyclone is a storm system
characterized by a low pressure center and numerous
thunderstorms that produce strong winds and flooding
rain. A tropical cyclone feeds on heat released when moist air rises, resulting in
condensation of water vapour contained in the moist air.

36 
 
 The largest low-pressure systems are cold-core polar cyclones and extra
tropical cyclones which lie on the synoptic scale. According to the National
Hurricane Center glossary, warm-core cyclones such as tropical
cyclones and subtropical cyclones also lie within the synoptic
scale. Mesocyclones, tornadoes and dust devils lie within the smaller mesoscale.
Upper level cyclones can exist without the presence of a surface low, and can pinch
off from the base of the Tropical Upper Tropospheric trough during the summer
months in the Northern Hemisphere. Cyclones have also been seen on
extraterrestrial planets, such as Mars and Neptune. Cyclo genesis describes the
process of cyclone formation and intensification. Extra-tropical cyclones form as
waves in large regions of enhanced mid-latitude temperature contrasts called baro-
clinic zones. These zones contract to form weather fronts as the cyclonic circulation
closes and intensifies. Later in their life cycle, cyclones occlude as cold core
systems. A cyclone's track is guided over the course of its 2 to 6 day life cycle by
the steering flow of the cancer or subtropical jet stream.
Weather fronts separate two masses of air of different densities and are
associated with the most prominent meteorological phenomena. Air masses
separated by a front may differ in temperature or humidity. Strong cold fronts
typically feature narrow bands of thunder storm sand severe weather, and may on
occasion be preceded by squall lines or dry lines. They form west of the circulation
center and generally move from west to east. Warm fronts form east of the cyclone
center and are usually preceded by strati-form precipitation and fog. They
move pole ward ahead of the cyclone path. Occluded fronts form late in the cyclone
life cycle near the center of the cyclone and often wrap around the storm center.

Tropical cyclo-genesis describes the process of development of tropical

cyclones. Tropical cyclones form due to latent heat driven by significant
thunderstorm activity, and are warm core. Cyclones can transition between extra-
tropical, subtropical, and tropical phases under the right conditions. Meso-cyclones
form as warm core cyclones over land, and can lead
to tornado formation. Waterspouts can also form from meso-cyclones, but more
often develop from environments of high instability and low vertical wind shear. In
the Atlantic and the northeastern Pacific oceans, a tropical cyclone is generally
referred to as a hurricane(from the name of the ancient Central American deity of
wind, Hurricane), in the Indian and south Pacific oceans it is called a cyclone, and
in the northwestern Pacific it is called a typhoon.
There are a number of structural characteristics common to all cyclones. A
cyclone is a low-pressure area. A cyclone's center (often known in a mature tropical
cyclone as the eye), is the area of lowest atmospheric pressure in the region. Near
the center, the pressure gradient force(from the pressure in the center of the
cyclone compared to the pressure outside the cyclone) and the force from
the Carioles effect must be in an approximate balance, or the cyclone would
collapse on itself as a result of the difference in pressure.
Because of the Carioles effect, the wind flow around a large cyclone is
counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern
Hemisphere. Cyclonic circulation is sometimes referred to as contra solem. In the
Northern Hemisphere, the fastest winds relative to the surface of the Earth
therefore occur on the eastern side of a northward-moving cyclone and on the
northern side of a westward-moving one; the opposite occurs in the Southern
37 
 
Hemisphere. (The wind flow around an anticyclone, on the other hand, is clockwise
in the northern hemisphere, and counterclockwise in the southern hemisphere.)
Tropical cyclones form when the energy released by the condensation of
moisture in rising air causes a positive feedback loop over warm ocean waters.
Cyclo-genesis is the development or strengthening of cyclonic circulation in the
atmosphere (a low-pressure area). Cyclo-genesis is an umbrella term for several
different processes, all of which result in the development of some sort of cyclone.
It can occur at various scales, from the micro scale to the synoptic scale. Extra-
tropical cyclones form as waves along weather fronts before occluding later in their
life cycle as cold core cyclones.
Tropical cyclones form due to latent heat driven by significant thunderstorm
activity, and are warm core. They can be extremely dangerous.Tropical
cyclogenesis is the technical term describing the development and strengthening of
a tropical cyclone in the atmosphere. The mechanisms through which tropical
cyclogenesis occurs are distinctly different from those through which mid-latitude
cyclogenesis occurs. Tropical cyclogenesis involves the development of a warm-
corecyclone, due to significant convection in a favorable atmospheric environment.
There are six main requirements for tropical cyclogenesis: sufficiently warm sea
surface temperatures, atmospheric instability, high humidity in the lower to middle
levels of the troposphere, enough Coriolis force to develop a low-pressure center, a
preexisting low-level focus or disturbance, and low vertical wind shear. An average
of 86 tropical cyclones of tropical storm intensity farm worldwide annually, with 47
reaching hurricane/typhoon strength, and 20 becoming intense tropical cyclones (at
least Category 3 intensity on the Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale).

A tropical cyclone is a storm system characterized by a low-pressure center

and numerous thunder storms that produce strong winds and flooding rain. A
tropical cyclone feeds on heat released when moist air rises, resulting in
condensation of water vapour contained in the moist air. They are fuelled by a
different heat mechanism than other cyclonic windstorms such as nor'easters,
European windstorms, and polar lows, leading to their classification as "warm core"
storm systems.

SEVERE CYCLONES THAT HIT INDIA

Every year during the cyclone season in India, various tropical cyclones form
in the Bay of Bengal or in the Arabian Sea, bringing strong winds and heavy rains.
Here we have tried to compile a list of few severe to very severe cyclones that hit
India in last one decade causing massive destruction of life and property.
Cyclone Nisha (2008) - Cyclone Nisha was the seventh tropical cyclone in
the Bay of Bengal in the year 2008. A fairly weak tropical cyclone, it caused some
notable damage in India and Sri Lanka. On November 26, the Indian
Meteorological Department upgraded the deep depression in the Bay of Bengal to
a cyclonic storm and named it Nisha. Over 180 people were killed in Tamil Nadu
alone due to heavy rain and floods caused by the cyclone. Orathanadu, in
Thanjavur District in Tamil Nadu received over 990 mm of rain within 24 hours. The
total amount of rainfall received from Nisha was about 1280 mm. The damage
caused by the cyclone was estimated to be about 3789 crores.

38 
 
 Cyclone Phyan (2009) - Cyclonic Storm Phyan developed as a tropical
disturbance in the Arabian Sea to the southwest of Colombo in Sri Lanka on
November 4, 2009 and made landfall in south India on November 7. Joint Typhoon
Warning Center (JTWC) named this cyclonic Storm as Phyan. High Alert was
issued in states of Gujarat and Maharashtra as heavy rainfall of over 25 cm was
expected. Massive damage to property was reported in coastal districts of
Maharashtra, such as Ratnagiri, Raigad, Sindhudurg, Thane and Palghar.
Cyclone Jal (2010) - Jal was the fourth severe cyclonic storm of the year
2010. Jal is a Sanskrit word, meaning water.. Jal brought torrential rains over parts
of Thailand and Malaysia, triggering severe flooding and killing several people. In
Sri Lanka, heavy rainfall with strong winds of up to 110kmph caused flooding
affecting around 80,000 people. Storm warning were hoisted in Ganjam and
Jagatsinghpur districts of Orissa and over 70,000 people were evacuated from four
districts of Andhra Pradesh. Cyclone Jal killed at least 54 people in India alone.
About 300 thousand hectares of cropland was devastated by the cyclone. The
remnants of Jal continued to move northwest, they brought light to moderate spells
of rain in India's warmest state of Rajasthan and also in Gujarat.
Cyclone Laila (2010) - Severe cyclonic storm Laila was the first cyclonic
storm to affect southeast India since the 1990 Andhra Pradesh cyclone. Laila
developed on May 17, 2010 in the Bay of Bengal and made a landfall in Andhra
Pradesh on the 20th of May. Cyclone Laila caused major flooding and damage
along its path. Ongole in Andhra Pradesh recorded heavy rainfall of about 460 mm
in just two days. Another town Addanki received the highest rainfall of 522 mm,
followed by Maddipadu with 510 mm and Kothapatnam 258 mm in just 24 hours.
The state government faced a loss of over Rs 500 crore due to Cyclone Laila.
Cyclone Thane (2011) - Thane was the strongest tropical cyclone of 2011
within the North Indian Ocean. Thane became a Very severe cyclonic storm on
December 28, as it approached the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra
Pradesh and made landfall at north Tamil Nadu coast between Cuddalore and
Puducherry on December 30. Thane left at least 46 people dead in Tamil Nadu and
Puducherry. Cuddalore and Puducherry were the worst affected areas.
Cyclone Nilam (2012)- Cyclonic Storm Nilam was the deadliest tropical
cyclone to directly affect south India since Cyclone Jal in 2010. It made landfall
near Mahabalipuram on October 31 as a strong cyclonic storm with peak winds of
85 kmph. In Chennai's Marina Beach, strong winds pushed piles of sand ashore
and seawater reached nearly 100m inland. More than 3000 people were evacuated
around Mahabalipuram in the wake of the storm. While damages to property were
considerable, human casualties were very few, Nilam caused economic losses of
around Rs 100 crore because of torrential rain. As sea tides became high, a
'Danger 7' alarm was issued at the Chennai Port to minimize damage.
Cyclone Phailin (2013)–The recent in the list is Cyclone Phailin which is a
category 5 storm- the most powerful. It struck the Odisha and Andhra coast last
month causing massive destruction in the region- affecting 12 million people.
Phailin is a Thai word which means Sapphire. This cyclone prompted India's
biggest evacuation in 23 years with more than 5,50,000 people being moved from
the coastline in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh to safer shelters. Phailin brought very
heavy rain of over 600 mm at many stations of Odisha. It also damaged crops

39 
 
worth Rs 2,400 crore and claimed over 40 lives. Loses due to Cyclone Phailin were
estimated to be around 696 million dollars or rupees 420crore.
While tropical cyclones can produce extremely powerful winds and
torrential rain, they are also able to produce high waves and damaging storm
surge. They develop over large bodies of warm water, and lose their strength if they
move over land. This is the reason coastal regions can receive significant damage
from a tropical cyclone, while inland regions are relatively safe from receiving
strong winds. Heavy rains, however, can produce significant flooding inland, and
storm surges can produce extensive coastal flooding up to 40 kilometres (25 mi)
from the coastline. Although their effects on human populations can be devastating,
tropical cyclones can also relieve drought conditions. They also carry heat and
energy away from the tropics and transport it towards temperate latitudes, which
make them an important part of the global atmospheric circulation mechanism. As a
result, tropical cyclones help to maintain equilibrium in the Earth's troposphere.
History of Tropical Cyclones in Bay of Bengal

S. Area affected over

Year Maximum Intensity
No. CAP
1 07-14 Sep 1971 Severe Cyclonic Storm Srikakulam, A.P.
2 20-25 Sep 1971 Severe Cyclonic Storm Srikakulam, A.P.
3 07-14 Sep 1972 Severe Cyclonic Storm Srikakulam, A.P.
Nellore & Prakasam
4 28 Oct-1 Nov 1977 Severe Cyclonic Storm
Districts, A.P.
Severe Cyclonic Storm with core Srikakulam to Guntur,
5 15-20 Nov 1977
of hurricane winds A.P
Severe Cyclonic Storm with core Visakhapatnam to
6 05-13 May 1979
of hurricane winds Nellore, A.P.
Severe Cyclonic Storm with core Srikakulam to Krishna,
7 16-18 Oct 1980
of hurricane winds A.P.
Severe Cyclonic Storm with core
8 11-15 Nov 1984 Nellore, A.P.
of hurricane winds
Nellore and Prakasam,
9 11-13 Dec 1985 Severe Cyclonic Storm
A.P.
Srikakulam to Nellore,
10 02-03 Nov 1987 Severe Cyclonic Storm
A.P.
11 12-13 Nov 1987 Severe Cyclonic Storm Whole coast
Severe Cyclonic Storm with core Nellore and Prakasam,
12 05-08 Nov 1989
of hurricane winds A.P.
Severe Cyclonic Storm with core
13 05-10 May 1990 Whole coast
of hurricane winds
Nellore, Prakasam
14 29-31 Oct 1994 Severe Cyclonic Storm

40 
 
 Severe Cyclonic Storm with core North coastal
15 09-10 Nov 1995
of hurricane winds Andhrapradesh
Severe Cyclonic Storm with core East and West
16 05-07 Nov 1996
of hurricane winds Godavari districts
Severe Cyclonic Storm with core
17 28 Nov-07 Dec 1996 SCAP
of hurricane winds
Visakhapatnam, to
18 23–26 Sep 1997 Severe Cyclonic Storm
Srikakulam, A.P.
East Godavari to
19 13–15 Nov 1999 Very Severe Cyclonic Storm
Srikakulam, A.P.
20 15–18 Oct 1999 Very Severe Cyclonic Storm Srikakulam district
21 27-29 Nov 2000 Very Severe Cyclonic Storm CAP
22 11–16 Dec 2003 Severe Cyclonic Storm
23 17–20 May 2010 Severe Cyclonic Storm (Laila) Coastal, A.P.

24 05-07 Nov 2010 Severe Cyclonic Storm (Jal) Coastal A.P.

25 25-31 Dec 2011 Very Severe Cyclonic Storm Thane

26 08-12 Oct 2013 Very Severe Cyclonic Storm Phailin
Severe Cyclonic Storm
27 20-22 Nov 2013 Helen

28 23-28 Nov 2013 Very Severe Cyclonic Storm Lehar

Very Severe Cyclonic Storm
29 07-12 Dec 2013 Madi

30 09-14 Oct 2014 Very Severe Cyclonic Storm Hud Hud

Vulnerability
Vulnerability refers to the inability (of a system or a unit) to withstand the
effects of a hostile environment. In relation to hazards and disasters, vulnerability is
a concept that links the relationship that people have with their environment to
social forces and institutions and the cultural values that sustain and contest them.
“The concept of vulnerability expresses the multi-dimensionality of disasters by
focusing attention on the totality of relationships in a given social situation which
constitute a condition that, in combination with environmental forces, produces a
disaster”. It's also the extent to which changes could harm a system, or to which
the community can be affected by the impact of a hazard or exposed to the
possibility of being attacked or harmed, either physically or emotionally.
The city of Visakhapatnam is vulnerable to high temperatures during the
months of March to June and receives South-West monsoon rains from June to
August. However, the city experiences heavy rains due to low pressure,
depressions and cyclones in Bay of Bengal from October to December. Sensitivity
having identified and prepared the exposure profile of the city, a detailed

41 
 
vulnerability assessment has been carried out through sensitivity analysis of the city
systems to the identified exposure levels. Sensitivity is the degree to which a
system or species is affected, either adversely or beneficially, by climate stressors.
The effect may be direct (for e.g., a change in crop yield in response to a change in
the mean, range, or variability of temperature) or indirect (for e.g., damages caused
by an increase in the frequency of coastal flooding due to sea-level rise). An
effective sensitivity analysis has been done in the project on climate adaptation
strategies by ICLEI South Asia during the period 2012-14. A detailed discussion on
‘vulnarability of Visakhapatnam is discussed in a separate section of the present
book.

Past weather Events

• Airport submergence during 2008 due to excess rain fall
(>300mm)
• High temperature in 2014 (440c).
• Increase in tidal wave height during Tsunami due to earthquake
with epi-centre, near Indonasian coast in 2004.
• High speed winds and gales at the highest of 220 Kmph for a few
seconds during Hud Hud cyclone in 2014.
More rain fall during depressions in Bay of Bengal during October /
November almost every year, causing floods in low lying areas affecting sanitation
and health hazards in the city. The following classification of low pressure,
depression, deep depression, cyclonic storm, severe cyclonic storm and very
severe cyclonic storms experienced by Visakhapatnam has been explained in the
form of a table:

MAXIMUM WINDS
DESCRIPTION WAVE
STATE EXPECTED
OF THE HEIGHT
OF SEA DAMAGE
SYSTEM mts.
KMPH KNOTS

LOW
NO SIGNIFICANT WIND
PRESSURE < 31 17 SLIGHT 0.5 - 1.25
DAMAGES
AREA

MOD TO NO SIGNIFICANT WIND

DEPRESSION 31 - 50 17-27 0.5 - 1.25
ROUGH DAMAGES

DEEP VERY NO SIGNIFICANT WIND

51 - 62 28-33 4-6
DEPRESSION ROUGH DAMAGES

TREE BRANCHES
CYCLONIC BROKEN OFF SOME
63 - 88 34-47 HIGH 6-9
STORM (CS) DAMAGE TO KUTCHA
HOUSES

TREES UPROOTED,
SEVERE PUCCA HOUSES
VERY
CYCLONIC 89 - 117 48-63 9 - 14 DAMAGED,
HIGH
STORM (SCS) COMMUNICATIONS
DISRUPTED

42 
 
 BIG TREES
UPROOTED, WIDE
SPREAD DAMAGES TO
VERY SEVERE
PHENOME HOUSES AND
CYCLONIC 118 - 166 64-89 > 14
NAL INSTALLATIONS
STORM (VSCS)
TOTAL DISRUPTION
OF COMMUNICATIONS

EXTREMELY - DO -
SEVERE PHENOME
167-221 90-119
CYCLONIC NAL
STORM (ESCS)

SUPER 120
222 AND PHENOME
CYCLONIC AND - DO -
ABOVE NAL
STORM ABOVE

The following climatic conditions support formation of cyclonic storms in Bay of

Bengal, which make Visakhapatnam vulnerable to frequent cyclonic storms:
• Sea surface temperature should be 26.5OC or more
• Low vertical wind shear
• Coriolis parameter should exceed minimum value (it should not be
zero)
• Low level cyclonic vorticity
• Large convective instability
• Large values of RH value in lower and middle troposphere

The Hud Hud Cyclone

The cyclone that is headed towards the Andhra Pradesh and Odisha coast
along the Bay of Bengal is named 'Hudhud'. Hudhud has been named after the
national bird of Israel. The name was suggested by Oman.
Cyclone 'Hudhud' derives its
name from the Hoopoe bird, a
colorful bird found across Afro-
Eurasia. The Indian Meteorological
Department (IMD) which issues
cyclone advisors to eight countries
has a list of names contributed by
each of them. Every time a cyclone
occurs, a name is picked in the
order of the names that are already
submitted. Each country gets a
chance to name a cyclone. After all
the countries get their turn, the
next list of names is followed.
The names of cyclones in Indian Seas are not allocated in alphabetical order
but are arranged by the name of the country which contributed the name. It is usual
practice for a storm to be named when it reaches tropical storm strength (winds of
34 knots). In the recent past, the cyclones were named Helen (Bangladesh) Lehar
(India), Madi (Maldives), and Na-nauk (Myanmar). The current cyclone is named

43 
 
Hudud (Oman) and ones that will follow will be called Nilofar (Pakistan), Priya (Sri
Lanka) and Komen (Thailand).
‘HUDHUD’ was the strongest and most destructive tropical severe cyclonic
storm, in Bay of Bengal, that ever hit any Indian city. It originated from a low
pressure within the North Indian Ocean and was formed under the influence of an
upper-air cyclonic circulation in the Andaman Sea. It converted into Severe
Cyclonic Storm and land fall took place near Visakhapatnam on 12th October. The
wind speed reached its peak of 220 Km/h (as per the information from the Naval
Meteorology Department). Weather forecasters of Indian Meteorological
Department warned that heavy to very heavy rainfall would lash parts of six states
as the remnants of the cyclone moved further inland.
An alert was sounded in nine out of thirteen districts of Andhra Pradesh
where standing crops including paddy, groundnut, sugarcane, and pulses were yet
to be harvested. The storm was expected to attain its highest speed, of 195 kmph,
before landfall. And the north coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh were to be
affected the most; the centre being the district of Visakhapatnam.
The country's official weather forecaster - IMD — in its report on the Hudhud
highlighted the importance of the indigenous satellite data and explained how the
INSAT-3D could be helpful in upgrading various components of early warning
system of cyclones. The products of INSAT-3D satellite were fully utilized for the
first time with the development of new products like enhanced IR imageries and
coloured enhanced imageries and were made available through an exclusive page
for cyclone images in IMD website", said the 66-page report of the Cyclone
Warning Division of the weather forecaster.
The report further stated that all the existing high wind speed recorders were
made operational around the path of cyclone. The satellite, designed for enhanced
meteorological observations, also monitors land and ocean surfaces, and
generates vertical profile of the atmosphere in terms of temperature and humidity
for weather forecasting and disaster warning. It has seven years of mission life. The
report noted that the Hudhud was the first cyclone that crossed Visakhapatnam
coast in the month of October after 1985 and it made landfall on the same day of 12
October, 2013 as Phailin tropical cyclone in the State of Odisha. The cyclone had
developed from a low pressure area which lay over Tenasserim coast and adjoining
North Andaman Sea in the morning of October 6 and concentrated into a
depression in the morning of October 7. Moving west-northwestwards, it finally
crossed north Andhra Pradesh coast over Visakhapatnam between 12 noon and 1
PM on October 12 with the wind speed of 180 kilometer per hour. It finally
weakened into a well-marked low pressure area over east Uttar Pradesh and
neighbourhood on October 14 evening.
The 'Hudhud' could have been more disastrous had it not been the India's
space agency Isro's advanced weather satellite INSAT-3D on the job to give vital
input for accurate forecasting. The satellite, configured with improved imaging

44 
 
system and atmospheric sounder, was launched from Kourou, French Guiana on
July 26 last year and made operational in January. The country's official weather
forecaster - IMD — in its report on the Hudhud highlighted the importance of the
indigenous satellite data and explained how the INSAT-3D could be helpful in
upgrading various components of early warning system of cyclones. "The products
of INSAT-3D satellite were fully utilized for the first time with the development of
new products like enhanced IR imageries and coloured enhanced imageries and
were made available through an exclusive page for cyclone images in IMD
website", said the 66-page report of the Cyclone Warning Division of the weather
forecaster. The report noted that the Hudhud was the first cyclone that crossed
Visakhapatnam coast in the month of October after 1985 and "it made landfall on
the same day as Phailin did in 2013". The details, extended by Andhra Pradesh
government to the Union ministry of earth science and Indian Meteorological
Department (IMD), also show that 2.37 lakh hectare of farm land having 22.14 lakh
tons of food-grains and standing cash crops and 6.89 tons of horticultural crops
suffered damage due to the very severe cyclone.
The report noted that total 4,484 villages of four districts were affected by the
cyclone that damaged 41,269 houses. Total 135,262 persons were evacuated by
the authorities to safer place after getting advance warning of the cyclone from the
IMD. The report also noted that the Hudhud damaged 455 buildings, including 317
primary and secondary schools, before finally crossing over the state. Similar
comprehensive report on Odisha, which also faced the wrath of the cyclone, is
awaited. The maximum damage was, however, reported from Andhra Pradesh. The
'Hudhud' could have been more disastrous had it not been the India's space
agency Isro's advanced weather satellite INSAT-3D on the job to give vital input for
accurate forecasting. The satellite, configured with improved imaging system and
atmospheric sounder, was launched from Kourou, French Guiana on July 26 last
year and made operational in January. The country's official weather forecaster -
IMD — in its report on the Hudhud highlighted the importance of the indigenous
satellite data and explained how the INSAT-3D could be helpful in upgrading
various components of early warning system of cyclones. "The products of INSAT-
3D satellite were fully utilized for the first time with the development of new
products like enhanced IR imageries and coloured enhanced imageries and were
made available through an exclusive page for cyclone images in IMD website.
Preparatory action of the State Government
BASED on the IMD reports, the following preparatory actions were initiated
by the State Government.
The Very Severe Cyclonic Storm ‘HUDHUD’ developed from a low pressure
area which lay over Tenasserim coast and adjoining North Andaman Sea in the
morning of 6th Oct. 2014. It concentrated into a Depression in the morning of the 7th
Oct. over the North Andaman Sea. Moving west-northwestwards it intensified into a
Cyclonic Storm (CS) in the morning of 8th Oct. and crossed Andaman Islands close
to Long Island between 0830 and 0930 hrs IST of 8th Oct.. It then emerged into
Southeast Bay of Bengal and continued to move west-north-westwards. It

45 
 
intensified into a Severe Cyclonic Storm (SCS) in the morning of 09th Oct. and
further into a Very Severe Cyclonic Storm (VSCS) in the afternoon of 10th Oct.. It
continued to intensify while moving towards north-west and reached maximum
intensity in the early morning of 12th with a maximum sustained wind speed (MSW)
of 180 kmph over the West Central Bay of Bengal off Andhra Pradesh coast. It
crossed north Andhra Pradesh coast over Visakhapatnam (VSK) between 1200
and 1300 hrs IST of 12th Oct. with the same wind speed. After landfall, it continued
to move north-west wards for some time and weakened gradually into SCS in the
evening and further into a CS in the same midnight. It then, weakened further into a
Deep Depression in the early morning of 13th and weakened into a depression in
the evening of 13th. Thereafter, it moved nearly northward and weakened into a
well-marked low pressure area over East Uttar Pradesh and neighbourhood in the
evening of 14th Oct. 2014.

The salient features

HUDHUD is the first cyclone that crossed Visakhapatnam coast in the month
of Oct., after 1985 and it made landfall on the same day as VSCS Phailin did in
2013. At the time of landfall on 12th Oct, the estimated maximum sustained surface
wind speed in association with the cyclone was about 100 Knots. The estimated
central pressure was 950 hPa with a pressure drop of 54 hPa at the centre
compared to surroundings.
It caused very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall over North Andhra Pradesh
and South Odisha and strong gale winds leading to large scale structural damage
over North Andhra Pradesh and adjoining districts of South Odisha and storm surge
over North Andhra Pradesh.coast Maximum 24 hour cumulative rainfall of 38 cm
ending at 0830 hrs IST of 13 October was reported from Gantyada (dist
Vizianagaram) in Andhra Pradesh. Maximum of storm surge of 1.4 meters above
the astronomical tide has been reported by the tide gauge at Visakhapatnam.
The numerical weather prediction (NWP) and dynamical statistical models
provided good guidance with respect to its genesis, track and intensity. Though
there was divergence in model guidance with respect to landfall point and time in
the initial stage, the consensus among the models emerged as the cyclone moved
closer to the coast.India Meteorological Department (IMD) accurately predicted the
genesis, intensity, track and point & time of landfall and also the adverse weather
like heavy rainfall, gale wind and storm surge 4-5 days in advance.
Brief life history, characteristic features and associated weather along with
performance of numerical weather prediction models and operational forecast of
IMD are presented and discussed in following sections.

Monitoring of VSCS HUDHUD

The very severe cyclonic storm (VSCS) HUDHUD was monitored and
predicted continuously since its inception by the IMD. The forecast of its genesis on
7th Oct., its track, intensity, point & time of landfall, as well as associated adverse
weather like heavy rain, gale wind & storm surge were predicted exceedingly well
with sufficient lead time which helped the disaster managers to maximize the
management of cyclone in an exemplary manner.

46 
 
 At the genesis stage, the system was monitored mainly with satellite
observations, supported by meteorological buoys and coastal and island
observations. As the system entered into the east central Bay of Bengal moving
away from Andaman & Nicobar Islands, it was mainly monitored by satellite
observations supported by buoys. From 11th Oct. early morning, as the system lay
within the range of the Doppler Weather Radar (DWR) at Visakhapatnam,
continuous monitoring by this radar started from 0330 hrs IST of 11th Oct. when the
system was at about 350 km east-southeast of Visakhapatnam coast and
continued till 1020 hrs IST of 12th Oct. when the DWR Visakhapatnam products
were not accessible due to disruption of telecommunication in association with the
wall cloud region entering into North Andhra Pradesh. In addition, the observations
from satellite and coastal observations, conventional observatories and Automatic
Weather Stations (AWS) were used. While coastal surface observations were taken
on hourly basis, the half hourly INSAT/ Kalpana imageries and every 10 minute
DWR imageries, available microwave imageries and scatterometry products were
used for monitoring of cyclone HUDHUD. DWR Machilipatnam was also utilized for
monitoring this system when VSCS HUDHUD was lying close to the
Visakhapatnam coast on 12th Oct.
Various national and international Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP)
models and dynamical-statistical model sand including NCMRWF’s global and
mesoIMD’s-scale models, dynamical statistical models for genesis and intensity
were utilized to predict the genesis, track and intensity of the storm. Tropical
Cyclone Module, the digitized forecasting system of IMD was utilized for analysis
and comparison of various models guidance, decision making process and warning
product generation.

Major initiatives during VSCS, HUDHUD

Following are the major initiatives taken by IMD for monitoring, prediction
and warning services of VSCS, HUDHUD.
Observations
The products of INSAT-3D satellite were fully utilised for the first time with
the development of new products like enhanced IR imageries and coloured
enhanced imageries and were made available through an exclusive page for
cyclone images in IMD website (www.imd.gov.in). The satellite data was also
ingested in model runs at NCMRWF.
All the existing High Wind Speed Recorders (HWSR) were made operational
around the path of cyclone HUDHUD. 1-min wind data from HWSR were recorded
along with 1 second peak gust.

47 
 
Monitoring and analysis
In addition to existing 3 hourly
monitoring, hourly monitoring and
analysis was carried out on the date of
landfall.

Prediction Technique
During VSCS HUDHUD, Hurricane Weather Research Forecast (HWRF)
model was run by IMD and IIT Delhi with 27/9/3 km resolution based on 00 and 12
UTC observations and products were made available to Cyclone Warning Division.

Operational Forecasting
Hourly updates on the movement
and intensity of VSCS HUDHUD were
made available to the National and State
level disaster managers and media
persons on the day of landfall from 0530
hrs IST of 12th till landfall.

Warning bulletins and Products

In view of the improvements in
operational track forecast during last five
years, the cone of uncertainty has been
reduced by about 20-32 % for 24-120 hr
forecast period w.e.f. VSCS HUDHUD.
The new radii of cone of uncertainty are
120, 200, 270, 320 and 360 km for 24-,
48-, 72-, 96- and 120- hrs respectively.

Warning Dissemination
• During VSCS HUDHUD Agricultural Meteorology Division, IMD, Pune in
coordination with Agro-met Field Units and Cyclone Warning Division, IMD,
New Delhi disseminated Alert and
Agro-met Advisory in the affected
districts of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha
from 9th October onwards and for
the states of Telangana, Bihar,
Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, East Uttar
Pradesh, East Madhya Pradesh and
Gangetic West Bengal from 11th
onwards. Overall 1,91,4872 SMSs
were sent to the farmers and local

48 
 
 people of affected states. INCOIS, Hyderabad disseminated warnings
through SMS and Electronic Display Boards (EDB) to coastal population
especially meant for fishermen. Cyclone Warnings issued by IMD were also
incorporated in the bulletins issued by INCOIS.
• SMS to Disaster Managers at National level and upto District
Collector level a new dedicated website for cyclone
(www.rsmcnewdelhi.imd.gov.in) has been developed and was fully
operational during VSCS HUDHUD.
• The Direct to Home (DTH) service through cable service operators
has been installed at 178 places out of proposed 500 stations for
cyclone warning communication in the coastal regions.
• Internet Lease Line Bandwidth was upgraded from 60mpbs to 100
mpbs during the cyclonic storm for free accessibility of ‘HUDHUD’
predictions since IMD website failed its activation.

Brief life history

The VSCS HUDHUD originated from a low pressure is over Tenasserim
coast and adjoining North Andaman Sea on 6th Oct. 2014. It concentrated into a
depression over North Andaman Sea on 7th Oct. morning over the North Andaman
Sea while moving west-north-west wards.

Intensification and movement

On 7th Oct. morning, the upper tropo-spheric ridge at 200 hPa level ran
along 190N and was providing pole ward outflow in association with the anti
cyclonic circulation located to the northeast of the system centre. Hence upper level
divergence was favourable for intensification.

Estimated central pressure of VSCS, HUDHUD

The hourly MSLP as recorded by Visakhapatnam is shown in Fig.3a which
clearly indicates that the pressure fell gradually from 11th onwards and fall became
rapid from the early morning of 12th Oct. As a result, 24-hour pressure fall ending
at 0600 UTC of 12th was 45 hPa and the lowest pressure was 950.3 hPa as
recorded at 0700 UTC over Visakhapatnam (time of landfall). Thereafter the
pressure rose sharply as the VSCS crossed coast and filled in due to increase in
surface pressure and cut off from moisture supply.

49 
 
 Hourly MSLP recorded at Visakhapatnam during 10-12th Oct. 2014 Hourly
wind direction reported by Visakhapatnam Observatory during the period from 1200
UTC of 10th October 2014 to 2100 UTC of 13th October 2014. Hourly wind speed
reported by Visakhapatnam Observatory during the period from 1200 UTC of 10th
October 2014 to 2100 UTC of 13th October 2014.
Heavy rainfall during HUDHUD
The VSCS, HUDHUD caused isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall over
Andaman & Nicobar Islands, heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places with
isolated extremely heavy rainfall over North Andhra Pradesh and South Odisha,
heavy to very heavy rainfall over a few places of Chhattisgarh, East Uttar Pradesh,
East Madhya Pradesh, isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall over Jharkand and
Bihar and isolated heavy rainfall over Sub-Himalayan West Bengal (Description of
rainfall terminologies: Heavy: 64.5 to 124.4 mm; Very Heavy: 124.5 to 244.4 mm
and Extremely Heavy: 44.5 mm) as well Isolated as spatial(ISOL):(1-25%
distribution of stations reporting rainfall); Scattered (SCT / A few places) : 26-50%
of stations reporting rainfall; Fairly Widespread (FWS/ Many places): 51-75% of
stations reporting rainfall; Widespread (WS/ Most places): 76-100% of stations
reporting rainfall during the last 24 hours ending at 0300 UTC of every day).
The chief amounts of past 24 hr rainfall realised ending (≥ at70830cm) IST of
date during the period of VSCS HUDHUD are furnished below:
8 October 2014
Activated from Port Blair in Andaman and Nicobar Islands
11 October 2014
High speed winds together with high waves of rough weather in the sea of
three coastal districts.

12 October 2014
The entire coastal district areas of Srikakulam, Vizianagarm and
Visakhapatnam received heavy rain with gale winds of Maximum gale wind of 180
kmph prevailed over Visakhapatnam district and adjoining areas at the time of
landfall. It was about 70-80 gusting to 90kmph over Andaman Islands during first
landfall.

50 
 
Storm Surge
Observed Storm Surge recorded
by the tide gauge (INCOIS) at
Visakhapatnam was 1.4m as recorded
by the tide gauge at Visakhapatnam
port against the forecast of 1-2m.

HUDHUD Cyclone devastation

The VSCS, ‘HUDHUD’ mainly
affected North Andhra Pradesh and
adjoining south Odisha. The devastation
and Hud Hud damages have been assessed by the State and local Governments
of affected districts of Andhra Pradesh.

Time to Time Forecast

From the verification of the
forecast guidance available from
various NWP models, it is found that
the average track forecast errors was
minimum for MME track. It was less
than 100 km up to 60 hour forecast
and about 100-120 km for higher lead
periods. Considering the individual
deterministic models, the performance
of ECMWF was the best with track
forecast error being 66 km, 53 km, 121 km, 145 km and 135 km respectively for 24
hour, 48, hour, 72 hour, 96 hour and 120 hour.

Considering the landfall point forecast error, the performance of MME and
ECMWF models was the best among the deterministic models. IMD continuously
monitored, predicted and issued bulletins containing track & intensity forecast at
+06, +12, +18, +24, +36, +48, +60,
+72, +84, +96, +108 and +120 hrs or
till the system weakened into a low
pressure area. The above structured
track and intensity forecasts were
issued from the stage of deep
depression onwards. The cone of
uncertainty in the track forecast was
also given for all cyclones. The radius
of maximum wind and radius of ≥28
knots, ≥34 knots, ≥50 knots and four quadrants of cyclone was also issued for
every six hours. The graphical display of the observed and forecast track with cone
of uncertainty and the wind forecast for different quadrants were uploaded in the

51 
 
RSMC, New Delhi website (http://rsmcnewdelhi.imd.gov.in/) regularly. The storm
surge forecast was given based on INCOIS and IIT, Delhi model. The prognostics
and diagnostics of the systems were described in the RSMC bulletins and tropical
cyclone advisory bulletins. The TCAC bulletin was also sent to Asian Disaster Risk
Reduction (ADRR) centre of WMO at Hong Kong like previous year. Tropical
cyclone vitals were prepared every six hourly from deep depression stage onwards
to various NWP modelling groups in India for bog using purpose. Bulletins issued
by Cyclone Warning services of IMD.
To conclude, the IMD’s weather reports and time to time forecasts provided
an effective tool for preparedness and planning for rescue and rehabilitation
operations in the affected districts of north coastal Andhra Pradesh.

The Hud Hud Devastation

This section deals with the devastation created by the very severe cyclonic
storm-Hud Hud, and the after affect of the calamity in terms of physical damage of
public and private property
and the human loss
sustained during the
cyclone. An attempt is
made to describe the
severity and affect of the
natural calamity, which is a
phenomenal occurrence in
the coast of North Andhra
Pradesh, which is very
close to Bay of Bengal.
However, the human loss is
controlled on account of the available technology of cyclonic forecasting system.
The immediate response of the State and Central Governments is highly
valuable so far as the assessment of damage is concerned for the purpose of
immediate relief and rehabilitation. The leaders have responded in time to
commence the action by the entire government machinery.

The Joint Rapid Needs Assessment Report (JRNA), Andhra Pradesh

NGOs positioned themselves in Andhra Pradesh ahead of Cyclone Hudhud,
having followed the intensification of the Tropical Cyclone from the 8th of October
2014. Drawing on learning from Cyclone Phailin responses a year earlier, a joint
assessment process was agreed prior to landfall, and assessment teams started
moving to the field immediately after the cyclone to carry out the Joint Rapid Need
Assessment (JRNA) using standardized formats and a predefined methodology.
Wind speeds reached approximately 195km/h, and landfall took place near
Vishakhapatnam. Initial assessment teams prioritized districts in the North of
Andhra Pradesh. The humanitarian impact of the cyclone was concentrated mostly
in Vishakhapatnam district, with pockets of need in Vizianagaram and Srikakulam
also. The primary hazards that affected communities included cyclonic winds up to
195km/h, tidal surge of 1.2m, heavy rain of up to 240mm in isolated areas and

52 
 
flooding of isolated areas near rivers and canals, mostly in agricultural areas.
Flooding and debris resulted in some areas being inaccessible in the first few days
after the cyclone.

The findings of the JRNA assessment are:

• Major shelter damage has been seen in 17% of assessed villages,
and minor damage in 41% of assessed villages.
• The majority of households in 93% of assessed villages practice open
defecation, and less than 50% of the assessed population have
access to safe drinking water as 73% of assessed villages indicated
piped water supply is affected, and many ground water sources have
high salinity.
• The cyclone has had an impact on food stocks in 88% of assessed
villages. Households in 83% of assessed villages have reduced the
quantity of food intake. Only 61% of villages indicate that most
households are able to cook food after the cyclone, with adequate
fuel and utensils.
• Markets were affected in the short term in 49% of assessed villages,
in 66% of assessed villages less than 25% of households can afford
to purchase food post cyclone, as a result from food price increases in
98% of villages assessed.

Emerging humanitarian needs:

Food Assistance: address urgent needs and gaps for marginal groups, either
through dry rations, along with utensils/ fuel for food preparation. Identify groups
excluded from relief assistance being provided by the government, and considering
that rations to non-fishing communities is less and households that don’t have
Aadhaar cards/ ration cards are not receiving relief assistance.
WASH: provision of safe drinking water in areas where pipes are damaged and
water logging has occurred. Carry out water testing and disinfection.
Shelter: Immediate temporary shelter support and medium term assistance with
shelter repair and reconstruction. Households also need support with NFIs
(including educational materials).
 

Humanitarian Profile (Initial Estimates)

The water receded fairly quickly, transportation networks have been
restored, and communication networks are mostly functioning (10 days post
disaster). Basic commodity prices rose after the cyclone. Communities experienced
significant crop losses, damage to productive assets and household NFIs. There
was little impact on the dwelling houses of strong constructions, and therefore the
impact of the cyclone on shelter was limited to vulnerable pockets. The most
affected are those living in low lying areas, exposed to the hazards, and
experiencing reduced livelihood opportunity or the loss of productive assets. Social
vulnerabilities within pockets of the affected population may result from targeting of
government relief and exclusion from compensation packages for landless
households. The government response is strong, and further assessment will need

53 
 
to determine whether determined humanitarian needs are met through local
response mechanisms, and what gaps remain.

18.4 Million 5%
Total population of 5 affected districts of total population affected
(calculations)
920,000 (estimated)
Estimated number of people affected by cyclone Hudhud, mostly in
Vishakhapatnam and Vizianagaram,
due to damage to crops on 450,000 acres agricultural land, infrastructure,
loss of assets, damage to property.
582,156 248,000 12,825+ 46
Directly affected (estimated) Population with Fatalities
(limited loss) (SDMC) urgent unmet (total 90
Directly Affected humanitarian in all
(livelihood losses) needs states)
91,500+ 406,000 19,759
with early recovery needs Evacuated Shelter damage

Relief Measures by Government

• The National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) met under
the Chairmanship of the Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth and reviewed
the preparedness for relief and rescue operations in the wake of
the cyclonic storm.
• Andhra Pradesh government has identified 356 villages in 59
Mandals of the four districts as cyclone-affected. More than 300
relief camps were opened.
• NDRF deployed 42 rescue and relief teams for rescue operations.
They also cleared felled trees, electricity and communication poles
and hoardings from roads in the affected areas. 500 field staff and
100 engineers are working day-and-night to restore normalcy and
telecom services. 45,000 electric poles would be installed to
restore power, of this, 2000 poles have reached Vizag and
restoration works are being carried out. Support was also
promised by the Tamil Nadu CM.
• The statistics revealed that 2250 km length of roads were
damaged in the state. Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport
Corporation (APSRTC) said in a release that bus services to
Visakhapatnam have been restored.
• The armed forces assisted the civil administration on rescue and
relief operations, deploying four teams to Vishakhapatnam 4
teams to Srikakulam (Tikli and Echerla). The Army established a
Disaster Management Cell at Air Defence College, Gopalpur.
• Six helicopters have been positioned in the Naval base at
Visakhapatnam. A P-8I long-range maritime reconnaissance
aircraft based at INS Rajali in Arakkonam was used to carry out
damage assessment of coastal areas.

54 
 
 • The Navy was appointed as the lead agency among the armed
forces for relief and response operations that was code-named
'Op Lehar'. Five diving teams dispatched to Srikakulam, 10 teams
to low-lying areas in and around Vishakhapatnam for rescue and
relief operations. 15 satellite phones are arranged and 689
swimmers are positioned across 5 districts. 54 boats have been
kept ready (30 of them are naval boats).
• Government constituted special teams to identify the affected
families and enumerate the losses for further assistance. (15th
October)
• The East Coast Railway and South Central Railway cancelled over
70 trains while short terminating or diverting many others in view
of cyclonic storm Hudhud.
• The PM announced Rs 1,000 Crore worth of aid for the cyclone-
affected areas in Andhra Pradesh by the Centre. Aid of Rs
500,000 will be given to kin of deceased and Rs 50,000 will be
given to the injured along with a provision of 25 kg rice, 1 kg sugar
and 5 litres of kerosene.
• The government has announced (as per GO MS 9) 50 kgs of rice,
5 kgs of kerosene, 2 kgs of dal, 1 kg sugar, ½ kg red chilli powder,
1kg tamarind, ½ kg salt, 2 kgs potato and 3kgs onion for fishing
communities. For other affected communities the relief is reduced
to 25 kgs of rice.
• Andhra Pradesh has formed five special teams to monitor health,
restoration, relief, power and sanitation.
• Response of the humanitarian agencies (attached in the URS
matrix).

Sector wise needs emerging (Food Security, Nutrition and Livelihood)

Food Security and Livelihoods
Situation Analysis (Based on secondary data and field observations/reports)
• Food grains/food stocks including dry fish got damaged in the affected
districts of Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam
• Around 4.5 lakh acres of crop was lost due to flooding.
• Depending on the food relief (Cooked food and Dry ration) provided by the
Government and Philanthropists.
• Discrimination in distribution of food packets, milk, biscuits and ration was
reported in many places
• Agricultural crops, equipment and assets/livestock have been affected /
damaged and hence the farmers are unable to meet their livelihood needs
immediately. Also, severe scarcity of drinking water and fodder for cattle is
reported
• In coastal area of Srikakulam district, fisher man have experienced livelihood
loss due to damage of boats and nets

The findings of the JRNA assessment (in the 41 assessed villages) are:
• 84% of the assessed community reported that they have lost food stocks
due to cyclone, out of which 34% have experienced severe damage of food
55 
 
 stocks. Of these39% of villages reported moderate losses, and 29% low
impact. Assessment teams were concerned that community members do not
have access to sufficient food especially vulnerable groups (SCs, STs,
children under 5, Elders, Pregnant and lactating women) are suffering due to
lack of access to sufficient daily nutritious food.
• 89% of the communities reported that their remaining food stock will last for
less than a week. This will result in severe food scarcity and less
consumption especially by women and children
• In addition, 84% of the assessed villages reported that there is significant
decrease in the total amount of food that they are eating post cyclone and
98% of communities are affected by increases in food prices.
• In the assessed community, the impact of cyclone was most experienced by
non-agriculture day labour sector- (59%) of villages affected, followed by
fisher folks (52%) and then by other agriculture day labour (34%), artisans,
petty shops, small scale entrepreneur (30%).
• 34% of villages assessed indicated that there had been severe crop
damage.
• It was observed that there is a loss of livelihood especially cashew, coconut,
pineapple, banana, tamarind plantation, sugarcane, vegetables, palm oil
trees, horticulture plantations and NTF produces like coffee plantation are
completely wiped out

Accessibility of Nutritional Program

Access to nutritional services at community level is a major concern
considering that 89% of SAM children do not have access to referral mechanism
and 86% don’t have access to NRC (Nutrition Rehabilitation Centre), which is quite
serious as management of SAM children is critical during an emergency situation
and need treatment urgently without delay either at community level (SAM without
medical complications) or at facility level (SAM with medical complications).

56 
 
Urgent Needs (Food Security, Nutrition and Livelihood sector)
• Food assistance as 90% of communities not having access to food
beyond one week, with further analysis the gap period where food
insecurity is likely, and what needs are remaining after government food
assistance.
• Cash based assistance may assist with the recovery of local markets
enhancing liquidity.
• Tribal areas are yet to be reached by the aid and hence immediate
support for livelihoods early recovery is needed
• In tribal areas where the crops are damaged, livelihoods are affected and
food security is an issue, alternative short term livelihood options are
needed through cash transfer/ CFW for both agriculture and non-
agriculture based labour.
• Fishermen have faced damage to their boats so they need immediate
money assistance to repair boats, with emphasis on mechanisms to
assist daily wage earners working in the fishing industry who are unable
to work.
• There is an urgent need of safe baby spaces for breastfeeding, can be
met by providing baby tents for establishing baby friendly spaces

Wash
The findings of the JRNA assessment (in the 41 assessed villages) are:
• The major sources of water supply are open well (24%), pond/ open
bodies of water (5%, pipe water (22%) and tube well (54%).
• In 88% of villages, piped water had been affected. In most affected
places due to inundation and clogging
• 51% of communities indicate that the majority of households have limited
access to safe drinking water, while 22% indicate that some are without
access. Only 22% have only a few or 7% have no access to safe drinking
water.
• Only 49% of communities indicated that access to safe water is available
to marginal groups.
• There is need for water containers in 64% of the assessed villages.
• Sanitation practices are almost the same pre and post disaster, with 93%
of the surveyed villages predominantly practicing open defecation, in
fishing communities this is as much as 100%.

57 
 
 • More than half of the households have no access to toilet facilities for
both male and female household members.
• Major concerns of 63% of villages relate to solid waste management, and
61% of villages are concerned about wastewater.
• In 93% of villages surveyed, women use cloth for menstrual hygiene, in
32% of villages women use sanitary napkins.

Urgent needs
• A growing, number of people do not have access to safe water are in
urgent need of a range of WASH support, including clean water, storage
containers, hygiene kits, purification materials and various WASH NFIs.
• WASH needs are particularly acute in Vishakhapatnam city, neighbouring
affected villages and in Srikakulam.
• There is also need for soap, and diapers for children.
• Poor menstrual hygiene – use of cloths mostly now needs an intervention
strategy
• Bathing spaces and toilets are in short numbers and hence a problem in
relief camps and in water logged areas.
• A WASH Surveillance grid needs to be put up urgently to alert any
disease outbreak especially in the close urban pockets and the remote
areas as both these clusters are in high risk of rapid spread.

Shelter
Situation Analysis
• Most of the houses are Kaccha- mud houses and some are Pucca
houses, which got damaged during storm surge.
• Affected community took shelter in the schools so schools were closed
during that period (For a week or more than that).

The findings of the JRNA assessment (in the 41 assessed villages) are:
• Affected community staying in shelters is vulnerable to mosquitoes,
snakes and darkness.
• 41% of villages surveyed indicated that they shelters were partially
damaged in their village, 17% of villages indicated that they had fully
damaged shelters in their village.
• Need for non-food items have been felt in 43% villages of assessed
villages during JRNA 7% villages of total assessed 41 villages had
complete shelter damages
DISTRICTS Rains Cold Mosquitoes Darkness Heat Snakes

Srikakulam 0% 50% 90% 100% 18% 36%

Vizianagaram 0% 83% 100% 92% 0% 25%

Visakhapatnam 50% 78% 91% 86% 77% 36%

58 
 
 Mosquito nets are required for both displaced population as well as those
who are living in their houses.

Urgent Needs
• Temporary shelter materials, tarpaulins, plastic sheeting and ground sheets/
mats.
• Shelter repair materials for partially and fully damaged shelters.
• Mosquito nets.
• NFIs, including torches/ solar lamps, blankets and utensils.
• Need of new shelters in few villages and shelter repair in some villages.

Health
Situational Analysis:
• As per secondary data, there are 738 pregnant women of 7 to 9 months
gestation including those nursing care in the districts assessed.
• Drugs and essential medical reserves have been affected; the supplies in
general are in shortage and in medical camps due to lack of coordination
and effective supply chain management for medical camps.
• The key reasons for non-functionality of health facilities are due to lack of
human resource and skilled health care providers, interrupted drugs supply
and other essentials and also due to inaccessibility of health facilities by
community accessing the facilities.

The findings of the JRNA assessment (in the 41 assessed villages) are:
• The overall health infrastructure and system in AP region is moderately
affected.
• There were 11 PHCs assessed across 3 districts in A.P. and only 2 PHCs
been severely affected.
• Only 1 ambulance had been damaged
• Out of total 23 health camps organized, 19 (83%) of them got affected due to
water logging.

59 
 
 • Equitable access to health facilities is a big concern. The lack of access to
healthcare from PHC, AWC, Rural Health Providers, attributed to facilities
being affected and reduced staffing levels as staff and their families
themselves being affected.
• In almost all PHCs assessed, majority of them (96%) of the damaged portion
could be restored. The total health facilities assessed is 32 and of these, 25
of them would be functional within 15 days (78%); and 5 (15%) of them
would become functional within 30 days while 7% of them could become
functional beyond 30 days period.
• There are limited underlying health concerns in population assessed except
cases of malnutrition and communicable diseases in selective pockets of
Srikakulam and Vishakhapatnam villages as more than 90% of the village
did not have such health concerns.
• Health camps are concentrated in urban pockets of assessed districts, the
appropriate and equitable health services not available to the rural during the
time of the assessment.
• Health surveillance is largely missing. The organised and unorganised
medical camps are not in coordination loop and information on health
surveillance and utilization status is not being maintained.
• Poor water, sanitation and hygiene conditions are increasing health risks for
spread of communicable diseases and epidemics.
• The appropriate measures for information and awareness of people to
prevent communicable diseases are not in place.
• Most pregnant women deliver in the private or the Govt. Hospitals, large
number of which are affected and thereby increasing the load on facilities
that are operational.
• The routine immunization and neo born care is also under pressure in
existing health facilities. SRH services, RH supplies, emergency obstetric
and new-born care, prevention of gender based violence and prevention of
HIV/AIDs.
• High incidence of UTI reported among women by Anganwadi workers.
• All 3 districts teams reported eye infections (maybe conjunctivitis etc.). The
King George Hospital / Victoria hospital houses 3 patients per bed during the
few days before rainfall and could not cater to people. No preparedness for
dealing with the health issues.

60 
 
Protection
Situation Analysis
• During the assessment, cases of looting, theft and breaking of law & order
have been reported in few villages.
• Many villages don’t have left safe and private bathing places & latrines for
women.

The findings of the JRNA assessment (in the 41 assessed villages) are:
On the basis of Joint Rapid Need Assessment collected from various
sources such as affected families, children, govt. officials at local level etc. broader
information has been gathered to provide idea about needs of people there in the
community.
• Villagers have been seen pro-active in helping each other in spite of the
discrimination, which is otherwise observed in non-disaster times. Around
57% of villages were having children in state of stress and no. of people
need counseling and psychosocial support in 55% of 41 villages.
• In the affected villages, most of the pregnant women, children, aged and
persons with disability relocated in the neighborhood habitations situated on
high land areas.
• Lack of adequate and physical protection has been felt in many villages.
• Lack of sufficient hygiene material for women especially in Srikakulam and
Vizianagaram Districts.
• Private bathing spaces and latrines have been found in few villages of
Vishakhapatnam District.
• During the storm surge and subsequent floods, some people in few villages
lost their legal documents.
• Large scale of displacement has been incurred which is again a huge
challenge in the restoring back the normal lives.

Urgent Needs
• Need of toilets/latrines in many villages for safe and hygienic environment.
• Families need to recover back their lost documents during the disaster
situation

Education
Situation Analysis:
• Children under 12 are lack of nutrition food due to no mid-day meal in the
schools.
• Adolescent girls are at risk of privacy.
• No sufficient study material is available with children.

61 
 
The findings of the JRNA assessment (in the 41 assessed villages) are:
• At the time of the JRNA Assessment, 73% schools were used as shelters
whereas 35 primary schools and 17 high schools stopped functioning due to
cyclone storm in all the three assessed districts Srikakulam, Vizianagaram
and Vishakhapatnam.
• There was decrease in proportion of both girl and boy students found from
before to after disaster.
• All schools became functional within 15 days.
• 10% of schools lost their study material during the disaster situation.
• In all the affected districts, most of the children, teachers and community
people reported that due to schools being dysfunctional, the mid-day meal
has been stopped which further has large impact on nutritional condition of
children.

Urgent Needs
• Children in the affected communities need textbooks, notebooks and school
bags.
• Teaching learning materials and teaching aids are needed in the affected
schools

62 
 
Recommendations

63 
 
 The severe cyclone HudHud
inflicted a heavy damage in
Visakhapatnam and Srikakulam districts
killing 45 persons and causing injuries to
scores across the north Andhra coast. The
cyclone made the landfall at Kailasagiri at
11.30 a.m. and brought in its wake gales
with speeds about 200 kilometres per hour
and tidal waves three to four meters high
that have battered the Vizag coast for
more than 2 days.
The measures taken on disaster and crisis management by the State
administration have given positive results and huge damage to human life has been
averted. However, the physical damage to the properties in the affected areas
could not be averted for the reasons beyond the human control within the short
span of availability of information. The proposed Smart City of Visakhapatnam,
which was a worst hit area in view of the point of location of landfall of Hud Hud
cyclone, is located in the heart of the City-“Kailasagiri Hills” beautiful city in coastal
Andhra Pradesh and a major Tourist destination was left battered and bruised after
massive cyclone Hudhud struck the port town.
Hundreds of vehicles parked on roads were damaged while heavy rains
inundated a few colonies. Many
Houses and mud Huts have
collapsed and demolished.
Visakhapatnam Air Port, Steel Plant
and other Valuable industries got
affected severely. The city was left
with fallen electrical poles, uprooted
trees and debris strewn all over the
streets. Cell Towers and cable Poles
had collapsed. Train and Cell phone
services were disrupted. Water and
Electricity services became in
operational. Massive destruction of
unimaginable scales left the city completely paralyzed.
All communication and power
network systems were badly
damaged by gales throwing a spanner
in rescue measures. The million-plus
population stayed indoors on account
of calamity. Uprooted trees and flexi-
boards torn and fallen on ground,
blown-up roof tops can be seen
everywhere in and around the city.
Operations at Visakhapatnam and
Gangavaram ports were paralysed
due to the cyclone. Gangavaram port
has suspended its operations.

64 
 
 Over 550 out of 600
mechanised boats at Visakhapatnam
fishing harbour have returned to the
anchorage. Fifty boats that went to
Odisha were asked to stay put at
Paradeep port. A huge sea surge
occurred the outskirts of
Visakhapatnam. Visakhapatnam and
Srikakulam district received heavy
rains due to the cyclone which had its
impact on 200-plus villages in 11
mandals such as Etcherla, Srikakulam, Gara, Narasannapeta, Mandasa and
Sompeta.

Road network was cut off to Visakhapatnam and Srikakulam areas for more
than a week from the land fall of the Hud Hud cyclone. The Navy teams have
reached the field for rescue
operations. Many trees fell down in
the entire North coastal districts
Visakhaptnam, Srikakulam and
Vizianagaram routes disrupting the
movement of cyclone-relief vehicles.
The movement of NDRF teams and
ambulances for rescue operations
could move with great difficulty.
Movement of other vehicles except
NDRF and ambulances were
restricted. Nearly 1.25 lakh people
were shifted to 150 shelters.

The Very Severe Cyclonic Storm ‘Hudhud’ disrupted power lines across the
north coastal districts of
Visakhapatnam, Srikakulam and
Vizianagaram in Andhra Pradesh. The
cyclonic storm caused extensive
damage, blacking out all the three
districts and also parts of East and
West Godavari districts, and the
officials are saying that it will take
some time to restore power. It was
estimated long time for more than two
to three months for complete
restoration and recovery of power
lines, and for normal distribution of power to the affected areas. The wind speed
that hovered around 180 to 200 kmph from morning to late in the evening, brought
down about 12,000 poles in Visakhapatnam city alone and it was estimated to be
over 40,000 in the three districts of Visakhapatnam, Srikakulam and Vizianagaram.

65 
 
 As per the report submitted by the State Government to the Union ministry of
earth science and Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), indicated that 2.37 lakh
hectare of farm land having 22. 14 lakh
tons of food-grains and standing cash
crops and 6.89 tons of horticultural
crops suffered damage due to the very
severe cyclone. The 'extent of damage'
caused by the cyclone is part of the
report, prepared by IMD's Cyclone
Warning Division on Hudhud. The
report noted that total 4,484 villages of
four districts were affected by the
cyclone that damaged 41,269 houses. Total 135,262 persons were evacuated by
the authorities to safer place after getting advance warning of the cyclone from the
IMD. The report also noted that the Hudhud damaged 455 buildings, including 317
primary and secondary schools, before finally crossing over the state.

The 'Hudhud' could have been more disastrous had it not been the India's
space agency ISRO's advanced weather satellite INSAT-3D on the job to give vital
input for accurate forecasting.

Cloud computing through Google

The State Government constituted a
technical committee to restore
telecommunication system in Visakhapatnam,
Srikakulam and other areas. All necessary
measures were taken for support of private
telecom operators as well as web engines like
Google, Facebook for data integration, satellite
imaging and even using cloud computing for
restoring telecommunication system.

Key power stations down

The main 400 KV substation at
Kalapaka of AP Transco, from where power is
supplied to Visakhapatnam, has been
extensively damaged.

Even the alternate source of 220 KV

Visakha Switching Station of Power Grid is
damaged and unless that is restored there can
be no power supply. The power distribution
and supply organizations started assessing the extent of damage for more than two
weeks in order to plan for restoration of power distribution in phased manner.

66 
 
Several sub-stations were damaged due to the gales and winds, the details of
which are provided at appropriate paras of the present chapter.
As per the devastation seen it was observed the entire lines were obstructed
by the fallen trees on the poles and it was a bigger challenge for the Power
distribution organization (APEPDCL) for restoration of lines and poles. Most of the
main and service lines pass below the trees and tens of thousands of trees have
fallen down, bringing down the lines. A few of the high tension poles have also
fallen down in the impact.
The chief executive of APEPDCL stated “Before restoring the power, each
line and pole has to be tested, as there could be a chance of short circuit or the
poles getting live. It is a huge task
and about 5,000 people including
officers are on the job”.
Hudhud inflicted
unprecedented damage with gales
crossing 200 km per hour, whereas
the electric poles and other
infrastructure were designed to
withstand a maximum wind velocity of
200 kmph. A total of 15,344 route
kilometres of Low Tension (LT) lines
were destroyed and only 574 kilometres of these lines were pending restoration as
on November 1.
The loss to LT lines alone stood at Rs. 369 crore, which was followed by a
loss of Rs. 200 crores that the twister
caused to 33 sub-stations of which 24
are 132/33 KV facilities. Over 1,360
11KV feeders and 24,993 Dynamic
Thermal Rating (DTR) systems were
destroyed with a financial implication of
Rs 205 crore. The number of electrical
services affected was pegged at a
whopping 25.49 lakh. The Emergency
Restoration Systems (ERS) of Power
Grid Corporation of India helped
EPDCL and SPDCL in speedy restoration of power. Most parts of Visakhapatnam
city could get power back in just three days with transmissions.
Due credit should go to the National Disaster Response Force and Navy
which did their best in bringing back normalcy. The Eastern Naval Command
Helicopters were in action air-dropping manpower of the two DISCOMs in the
inaccessible areas.

67 
 
 The Very Severe Cyclonic Storm ‘Hudhud’ disrupted power lines across the
north coastal districts of Visakhapatnam, Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and East
Godavari in Andhra Pradesh on Sunday.

Key power stations down

The main 400 KV substation at Kalapaka of AP Transco, from where power
is supplied to Visakhapatnam, has
been extensively damaged. “This is
the main cause of concern for
disruption power supply in the entire
smart city of Visakhapatnam. Even the
alternate source of 220 KV Visakha
Switching Station of Power Grid was
damaged. The initial focus was given
priority to restore the 220 KV and 130
KV stations and supply to areas in the
city. The other 33 KV sub stations were taken up subsequently.

68 
 
Industrial Damages
All major industrial units in Visakhapatnam have suffered extensive damage.
Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd., the corporate identity of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant,
hit hard by grid failure, has shut down operations. The Chief Minister of the State of
Andhra Pradesh after his visit to Steel Plant, has been informed the estimated total
loss in the plant would be around Rs. 700 crore.
The hull shop and other infrastructure of Hindustan Shipyard Ltd., a Defence
Ministry enterprise, were blown away. Heavy winds not only uprooted
communication installations but also blew away sheds and workshops. Telephones,
both landline and mobile, are dead. It was a colossal loss to the industries. The
Visakhapatnam and the Gangavaram ports, which together handle 85 million
tonnes, have suspended operations.
The major Public Sector industrial units including the Visakhapatnam steel
plant and the two ports –
Visakhapatnam and Gangavaram
have suffered a major damage
during the cyclone. the losses
include both production loss and
infrastructure loss as assessed by
the respective industrial units. The
total loss could be more than
Rs.1,000Crs. as per the initial
approximate estimate. The
Hindusthan Shipyard Limited (HSL)
and other PSUs were in a similar position. The HSL authorities said in a press note
on Wednesday that the estimated loss could be around Rs.500 crore. The HPCL
refinery stopped production since Sunday and power generation also came to a
halt at all the four units at the Simhadri thermal station of the NTPC (each unit with
a capacity of 500 MW). It is learnt that the naval establishments here also suffered
a huge loss, but it is yet to be enumerated. The IT units at Rushikonda and other
places in the city were in a similar plight.
Indian Navy operations
The Navy on Monday morning
launched a P8-I long range maritime
reconnaissance aircraft from INS
Rajali at Arakkonam morning to
gauge the magnitude of damage
caused by the cyclone Hudhud in
Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
A Dornier aircraft got airborne
from the restored runway of INS
Dega in Vizag to join in the effort.
Naval assets would be deployed for rescue and relief operations on the basis of the
assessment, said a Navy spokesperson.

69 
 
 The rescue and relief efforts would be led by the Navy under ‘Operation
Lehar’. Naval personnel at Vizag were working to get the naval base back to being
operational. Damage to the Naval Dockyard was minimal thanks to proactive and
preventive measures undertaken ahead of the cyclone. The airfield at INS Dega
was flooded and damage was reported to almost all structures. Naval aircraft,
however, remained unharmed, said an official.
The Navy was able to get the two runways at naval air station Dega fit to
conduct flying operations on Monday morning itself. Almost all roads in the naval
area remained blocked with uprooted trees lying all over. Power supply to the base,
disrupted owing to damage to transmission lines, was yet to be restored. Only the
Maritime Operations Centre in Vizag had a communication link with Delhi, as BSNL
lines, naval satellite Rukmani and INMARSAT were all down.
Warships INS Ranjit, INS Shivalik, INS Shakti and INS Airawat were ready to
sail with relief material for 5,000 personnel, as four ships remained on standby.
Around 24 diving teams are already carrying out relief operations in and around
Vizag. Naval assets were deployed for rescue and relief operations on the basis of
the assessment.

Airport Operations
All the commercial Air traffic
lines were suspended for more than
five days and only the Navy was able
to get the two runways at naval air
station Dega fit to conduct flying
operations. Almost all roads in the
naval area remained blocked with
uprooted trees lying all over. Power
supply to the Air port has been
completely disrupted due to have
damage to the Air port building and
the surrounding areas. The runway at Visakhapatnam Airport was flooded and the
radar and navigational aids were destroyed. The roof of the terminal was torn apart
due to the speed of the cyclone.

Fishing Harbour
Fishing harbour bore the brunt
of devastation triggered by severe
cyclonic storm Hudhud with an
estimated 60 mechanised boats
getting sunk and 250 partially
damaged. The shell-shocked boat
owners blame the Visakhapatnam
Port for not listening to their pleas to
remove sunken/abandoned trawlers
or evacuating at least half of 500-odd
mechanized boats to the inner
harbour.

70 
 
 There are 13 abandoned trawlers and 14 totally sunk occupying almost one-
third of berthing space at the fishing harbour for past three years, which is under
maintenance of the port. Though nearly 4,000 crew members were asked to stay
on-board the boats, later the owners’ associations asked them to vacate due to
unprecedented turbulence in the sea. “I have never seen such menacing waves
and winds with such high speed in my four-decade long fishing career. Each
mechanized boat costs Rs.20-40lakh ($35,000-70,000) depending on its length and
capacity.

Cyclone Preparedness Operations

The pre-Hud Hud preparedness was well planned by the State and local
authorities of Andhra Pradesh based on the IMD cyclone reports issued from time
to time. The following actions were planned and implemented by the
administrations for effective and successful outcome of the operations.

08-09 October, 2014

• Video conference of the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh with the
District Administration for making necessary preparedness for the cyclone.
• Video conference of the
Commissioner, Disaster
Management with the District
Administration for a detailed
plan of action for crisis
management.
• Control Rooms were opened at
the District Head Quarters and
local Head Quarters and also
at the Offices of GVMC,
APEPDCL, Police, etc.
• The Chief Secretary reviewed
the situation along with the Commissioner, Disaster Management.

10 October, 2014
• Cabinet Secretary reviewed the Cyclone Preparation action.
• District Collector held a meeting
with District Officials and village
level teams regarding cyclone
preparedness.
• The District Administration
evacuated thousands of coastal
village’s people to relief centres /
safer places of cyclone relief
centres. Utmost care was taken to
provide good civic amenities at these cyclone shelters.

71 
 
 • Restrictions were imposed on vehicular movement barring emergency
cyclone relief vehicles and ambulances along 350 km of all local and
National Highways in the affected districts of north coastal Andhra Pradesh.
• APSRTC had cancelled long-distance buses.
• All essential commodities were lifted and stocked at or near to relief centres
and safer places.
• NDRF teams were placed at six locations across the district.
• All logistics such as wireless sets, Police VHF Sets were arranged. The state
government also provided satellite phones.
• Navy was alerted for any time deployment and one contingent of Army force
was placed at positions.
• Time to time satellite pictures, were viewed to track the location and speed
of the cyclone. Both Indian and U.S. sites were closely observed. Once in
the range of 200 Nm, Doppler radar was also was fully utilized for assessing
the track, time and rainfall.
• A group on Telegram involving all the district officials was created to share
real time information and pictures.

11 October, 2014
• The Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh reviewed the preparedness actions
through Video conference involving all the concerned team leaders of the
above mentioned operations.
• All information about the progress of the cyclone, and its proposed point of
landfall and the precautions to be taken by the state government were
propagated through FM radio, electronic media for regular monitoring of the
relief centres.

12 October, 2014
The eye of the Storm was particularly concentrated around Visakhapatnam town
and crossed through the city. This eventual situation of crossing of the cyclone
created havoc in the city for the
residence of Visakhapatnam. The
winds were severe nearly around 200
Kmph. The continuous heavy down
poring of rainfall for more than 48
hours affected the livelihood of the
citizens of Visakhapatnam. The high
speed winds and gales created an
extensive damage to the domestic,
commercial and Government
properties in entire city, particularly
the lung space of Visakhapatnam
with all-round rich greenery is hardly left out any greenery in the city of
Visakhapatnam. An extensive damage to the property, agriculture and
Infrastructure in the city, are reported after the devastation, which has been dealt
with separately in the subsequent paras.

72 
 
                                                    
 
 
 
 
 
                             
 
   

73 
 
 Summary of damages
Damages associated with VSCS Hudhud

Sl. Damages  
Item
No. No.
 
1 Districts affected 4
 
2 Blocks affected 65
 
3 Villages affected 4484
   
4 Families affected 20,93,508
 
5 Persons evacuated 1,35,262
6 Persons rescued 146
7. Human Loss/Injured
Number of Deaths 46
Number of injured 43
8. Loss of livestock
Number of animals
perished 2831
Poultry/duck 24,43,701
9. Agriculture
Expected production
loss (tons)
Food Grains & Cash 22,14,000
crops Mts.
6,89,000
Horticultural crops Mts.
10. Housing
Number of Affected
houses 41,269
Roads
Not
(i)National highway estimated
(ii)State highway 225 Km
(iii)P.R. Road
(iv)others(municipal 648.73
Roads) km
6 Persons rescued 146

74 
 
Deaths & Injuries

Human Loss : 45
Visakhapatnam : 19
Anakapalli Division : 13
Narssipatnam Div : 04
Paderu Division : 09
Total : 45

Inuries : 27
Anakapalli Div : 05
Paderu : 01
Visakhapatnam Div : 21
Total : 27

House Property Damages

S.No. Category Urban Rural Total

1 Fully damaged 402 1333 1735
2 Severely damaged 2781 4327 7108
3 Partially damaged 24929 27139 52066
4 Huts 10251 19207 29458
Total 38363 52004 90367

Damages to Govt. Buildings

No. of
S.No. Category
institutions
1 State Government 75
2 Central Government 18
Total 93

Other Departments
The following damages were
reported by other State and Central
Government departments.

Agriculture Department
• No. of Farmers :1,55,712
• Extent damage : 62,709 Ha

75 
 
Horticulture Department
• No. of Farmers : 1,03,376
• Extent of damage : 51,688 Ha
• Uprooted trees : 16,780
• Crown damaged : 2,629
trees
• Tilted trees : 1,648

City Horticulture

¾ Fully damaged Grown up tree

during this Cyclone : 85,000 Nos
¾ Semi Damaged Grown up trees
during this Cyclone : 1,45,000 Nos
¾ No. of Parks & Gardens damaged / Percentage : 70 % (94 Nos)
¾ Major Landscaping gardens fully damaged : 2 Nos
(Sivaji Park & Mudasarlova Park)

Animal Husbandry

S.NO Details of Cattle No

1 No of Big animals lost (cow 2,518
buffalo, horse, bullock, calf, etc.,
2 No of small animals lost (sheep, 1,552
Goat)
3 No of Poultry (Birds) Lost 28,50,654
4 Veterinary Institutions Damaged

Handlooms and Textiles

S.NO Category No.of Units

1 Loom equipment & accessories 595
2 Yarn & other Material like dyes, 92
Chemicals and finished Stockes
Total 687

76 
 
Roads and Buildings

S.No Category No.

1 No of KMs of Roads surface Damaged - 102.65
2 R&B- No of Breaches 15.00
3 R&B CD Works 38.00
4 R&B- No of Scours 267.00
5 Trees fallen 3815.00
6 R&B- No of road over flows 18.00
7 R&B No of Traffic interruptions 3,830
9 Total Damages to R&B (Rs. In lakhs) 4239.05

Panchayat Raj Department

S.No Category No.

1 No of Roads Damaged- PR 2048

2 Length of Roads Damaged 1606.28 km
3 No of Buildings Damaged 206
4 No of trees fallen 6034

Municipal Administration

Other
Category GVMC Total
ULBs
No of ULBS affected 1 2 3
Length of Roads damaged 811km 20 km 831km
(retaining wall)
Length of Open Drains & 393km 11 km 404 km
UGD damaged
Length of pipe line 750 km 2 km 752 km
damaged – Water Supply
No of Street lights damaged 60,000 5800 65,800km
km
No of Municipal Buildings 178 190

No. of Bridges 1095 12 1095

77 
 
Panchayat Raj Department

S.No Category No.

1 No.of RWS works damaged 557
Repairs to pumping machinery (No.of
2 works) 33
3 Repairs to leaking O.H.S.Rs / GLSRs 199
3 Repairs to damaged intake structures 130
4 Repairs to damaged approach gantries 2
5 Replacement of damaged pipelines 193

Fisheries Dept

S.No Category No.

1 No of Fishermen deaths Nil
2 No of Fishermen Missing Nil
3 No of Boats & Nets Lost 391
3 Boats & Nets Damaged 190
4 Boats Lost 431
5 Nets Lost / Fully damaged 151
Only Boats Damaged
6 Fish / Prawn Farming Ponds Damaged 1301

EPDCL Damages

78 
 
 
                     
INDIRA GANDHI ZOOLOGICAL PARK
IMPACT OF “HUDUD” CYCLONE IN INDIRA GANDHI ZOOLOGICALPARK

The Indira Gandhi Zoological

Park, Visakhapatnam is spread over
an area of 625 acres between 3 series
of hillocks abutting the Bay of Bengal
has been housing about 846 species
of animals and birds at present in 63
enclosures and open moats in a most
natural and near natural simulated
environment. Being on the edge of the
sea it has been experiencing many
cyclones since its inception. But
cyclone “Hud-Hud” (Hoope) created a havoc destroying the entire fabric and
structure of the vegetation evolved for the last 4 decades.

The following are the details of the

damages caused due to this cyclone:

• About 40% vegetation is totally

rooted out leaving remaining
60% stripped-off of its either
branches or half cut giving an
impression a serious natural
disaster.

79 
 
 • The compound wall around the Zoo has fallen at many places to a
cumulative length of 1000 mts.
• The fallen trees strewn over the roads, in the moats of the entire area.

• Three Walk Through Avairies (25 x

25 mts each) collapsed and the
most of the Birds came out and
hovering in the vicinity.
Animal mortalities :
Chowsingha (3 Nos),
Barking Deer (1 No),
Blackbuck (3 Nos).

The animal mortalities is negligible due to the precautions taken in advance

and kept continuous vigilance at each enclosure taking all necessary measures like
feed, water and other basic prophylactics to all the animals.
• About (60) enclosures are badly damaged due to fallen trees over them and
need to be repaired immediately to contain the animals from straying.
• The major infrastructure and visitor amenities like (1) shelters, (2) Benches,
(3) Public conveniences, (4) Signages & Hoardings etc., are badly damaged
and cannot be salvaged for re-use.
• The main gate of the entrance including arch and compound wall collapsed.
• The enriched habitats of each of the enclosure and moats are totally
damaged and lot of fallen trees are to be removed (> 3000 cum).
• Since the city of Visakhapatnam on either side 100 kms badly damaged due
to this cyclone and major food supplies like transport of fruits, vegetables,
Beef have become scarce commodity and sold at exorbitant prices. Even at
the higher costs things are not available.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

80 
 
 • Entire transport and communication system collapsed and the management
with great difficulty could able to procure temporary stocks may last for few
days only.
• Electricity and water supply is totally disrupted and we are stretching beyond
human capacity to make the animals as comfortable as possible.
• Since this Zoo is suffering for release of funds especially under the prevailing
situations immediate temporary relief to a tune of Rs.100 Lakhs.

         
Housing
 

 
City Plantation Damages of Local Government (GVMC)
Cyclone Effect :
• Fully damaged Grown up tree
during this Cyclone : 85,000 Nos (Approx.)
• Semi Damaged Grown up trees
during this Cyclone : 1,45,000 Nos
• No. of Parks & Gardens damaged
/ Percentage : 70 % (94 Nos)
• Major Landscaping gardens fully
damaged : 2 Nos
(Sivaji Park & Mudasarlova Park)

81 
 
Other Infrastructural Damages
Statement of Partially Damaged Infrastructure

Sl. Quantity Tentative

No. Infrastructure affected Cost
(Kms./Nos.) (Rs. in Cr.)
1 Water Supply
a) Trunk Mains 200 Kms. 30.00
b) Distribution Mains 250 Kms. 37.50
c) Pumping Stations including Electrical 4 Nos. 20.00
d) Overhead Reservoirs 10 Nos. 5.00
e) PWS Schemes 30 Nos. 1.50
f) Other works at Head works 8 Nos. 2.00
2 Street Lighting
a) Street lighting Poles with luminaries 1000 Nos. 20.00
b) Luminaries 30,000 Nos. 18.00
c) Transformers and Others 20.00
3 Buildings
a) Primary Schools 56 Nos. 11.20
b) Secondary Schools 11 Nos. 2.20
c) Community Centres 91 Nos. 22.75
d) Other Buildings like... Museums, 20 Nos. 25.00
Rajiv Smruthi Bhavan GVMC Dispensaries,
Compound walls, etc.
4 Shops and Other Commercial Buildings
a) Shops 12,660 Nos. 379.80
b) Other Commercial Buildings 11,280 Nos. 112.80
5 Sewerage System
a) Treatment Plants 6 Nos. 8.80
b) Sewerage Pump houses/Machinery 10 Nos. 5.00
6 Roads and Infrastructure
a) B.T. Roads 100 Kms. 80.00
b) C.C. Roads 70 Kms. 40.00
c) Foot paths 100 Kms. 15.00
d) Road Infrastructure like.. Bus shelters, 50 Kms. 20.00
Signal poles, Destination Boards, Direction
boards etc.
7 Housing
a) Sintex Tanks, Sewer down take pipes 900 Nos. 2.00
etc..
8 Sanitation
a) Hiring of the machinery and vehicles 18.50
b) Fuel Charges 2.50
c) Hiring of Additional Labour 3.00
Total 902.55

82 
 
 

83 
 
Findings
The heavy physical damage that took place due to the severe cyclone is a
natural impact since it is not possible to control or avert the calamity due to
pertinent reasons of manmade mistakes of creating disturbance in the ecological
balance. however, the human loss could be minimized with a great care and
implementation of effective action plan in terms of disaster managemnt and
preparedness of the State authorities, besides involvement, cooperation and
commitment of all the stakeholders-Non Government Organizations, media, student
community and all other sections of the society.

The Role of Media

The electronic and print media in India including the regional media of
Andhra Pradesh and the neighbouring states played crucial role in involving the
Government and the other stakeholders for taking necessary precautions and
preparedness for the Hud Hud cyclone. The Indian electronic media reported the
status of crossing of Hud Hud and it’s severity from time to time with daily news
bulletins, which can be considered as a social service to the mankind. The system
of reporting by the media is highly appreciable, for their physical involvement in the
very severe cyclone with high speed winds and gales. One of the regional
electronic media reporters-TV-5, a regional media of Andhra Pradesh, went to even
to the extent of taking life risk by their physical presence for reporting at the time of
crossing the cyclone near the coast of Bay of Bengal, which is highly admirable.

84 
 
 3. SMART CITY PLANNING

“Cities are the engines of economic growth. My

Government is committed to building modern
amenities and infrastructure in our urban areas.
The National Urban Development Mission is
finalized, and after extensive stakeholder
consultations, the Smart City program is close to
finalization”.
-Pranab Mukherjee, President of India

The Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD), Govt. of India launched the

prestigious program of “Smart Cities” and “Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban
Transformation (AMRUT)” during June, 2015 with the primary objective of
developing smart cities in India, involving active participation of the citizens with
their innovative ideas of implementable solutions for improving quality of citizen
services by the urban local bodies through effective Citizen Responsive
Management (CRM). The Government of India initially announced a list of 100
Indian cities for development as ‘Smart Cities’ which have taken part in Smart City
Challenge (SCP). The potential smart cities have submitted Smart City
Development Plans (SCDP) based on active citizen consultation process of
respective cities, and the MoUD, Govt. of India selected the 20 Indian Smart Cities
for funding in the first phase. The selection of twenty smart cities in the first phase
is stated to have been taken up on the basis of parameters of criteria- Retrofit, Re-
development and Green field models. The Citizen Responsive Management (CRM)
is considered as the critical approach in all the cases.
The smart cities approach of urban development is proved to be successful at
the global level with significant results of CRM with the active participation of the
citizens. The concept, introduced by the Govt. of India in recent years is gaining
momentum with the defined instructions and guidelines issued to the identified
cities for smart city development.

85 

 
Smart Cities in the Global context
The concept of smart city in the global context is not new as introduced
recently in India. The smart city approach across the global cities has been under
active implementation since a decade back. The term “smart cities” is a bit
ambiguous. Some people choose a narrow definition- i.e., cities that use
information and communication technologies to deliver services to their citizens. A
broader definition according to Boyd Cohen, Smart cities use information and
communication technologies (ICT) to be more intelligent and efficient in the use of
resources, resulting in cost and energy savings, improved service delivery and
quality of life, and reduced environmental footprint-all supporting innovation and the
low-carbon economy.
Now with greater use of technology, a number of cities are accumulating
data delivering innovation, and enhancing lives of citizens”. Juniper Research
recently compiled its list of top-five “smart cities.” Steffen Sorrell focuses on two
overarching benefits of smart cities: sustainability and efficiency. To that end, he
identified five essential components of a smart city.
• Technologies
• Buildings
• Utilities
• Transportation & road infrastructure
• The smart city itself

Forbes, March 2015 releases the list of top five global smart cities:
1. Barcelona - the city scored high on the environment and
smart parking.
2. New York City - scored high of smart street lighting and
smart traffic management
3. London - scored high on technology and open data
4. Nice - the French city scored high on
environment and agency Cohesion
5. Singapore - scored high of smart traffic management
and creative use of technology

Further, the Government of India is repeatedly intensifying its efforts through

all possible channels to achieve effective citizen participation in the process of
smart city development. On reaching the present stage of initial phase of selection
of twenty cities, it is realized that a positive outcome of CRM is possible only
through an active citizen participation in the smart city development process. The
States and the city governments are the key centers, which play important
supportive roles in the process of strategic development of smart cities with smart
leadership and vision, and the MoUD considers the entire process as a
“Challenge” through a method of competitiveness, between the cities participating
in the Smart City Program. Before extending our discussion on citizen participation
in smart cities development in the Indian context, it necessary to understand the
term ‘smart city’ including as to how the smart city concept has been introduced
and practiced in the global context.

86 

 
 The smart city challenge is an approach by which the selected smart cities
take part in the strategic planning and implementation of the smart city
development with competitive spirit between the cities. Unlike the conventional
system of DPR driven approach, the smart city development demands the
policymakers of the states and cities to evolve their strategies to be more scientific
in their approach in order to achieve the success of the mission. The effective
competitive spirit among the implementable strategic planning of the cities decides
the success of the smart city project, and this pre-supposes implementation of
certain vital approaches in the governing process. The prime concern of the smart
city management is to ensure grounding and implementation of the projects
approved strictly in accordance with the City Development Plan (CDP), and this
process requires continuous knowledge sharing and skill development of all the
concerned stakeholders of the city for successful outcome of the smart city
program of the Government. This specific vital aspect is frequently ignored by the
States and local Governments, as a result of which the urban development
program outcome is lagging behind the estimated targets. However, it is needless
to emphasize that implementation of capacity building activity as a regular and
continuous internal function in the smart city governance, which is considered as
an important approach to implement the Smart City Challenge.

What is Smart City?

Before we conceptualize the citizen participation in smart cities, it is
necessary to understand the implications of concept of ‘Smart City’ and the ‘Smart
City Challenge’. The concept of smart city is an approach for development of city
with the following basic areas of improvement of social, economic, physical and
other infrastructural facilities in the cities:
• Health and Sanitation
• Water
• Education
• Mobility and Transportation and Communication
• Electricity
• Tourism, and
• Green Urban Resilience

Before we discuss the success story of Visakhapatnam for support of

attaining the status of Smart City, it is necessary to understand clearly the meaning
and definition of Smart City. The first question is what is meant by a smart City?
The answer is, there is no universally accepted definition of ‘Smart City’. It means
different things to different people. The conceptualization of smart city, therefore,
varies from city to city and country to country based on reforms, resources and
aspirations of the city residents. A Smart City would have a different connotation in
Indian than, say, USA or Europe. Even in India, there is no one way of defining a
Smart City, which contains a wish list of infrastructure and services that describes
his or her level of aspiration. To provide for the aspirations and needs of the
citizens, urban planners ideally aim at developing the entire urban eco-system,
which is represented by the four pillars of comprehensive development –
institutional, physical, social and economic infrastructure. This can be a long term
goal and cities can work towards developing such comprehensive infrastructure
incrementally, adding on layers of ‘smartness’.

87 

 
 In the approach to the Smart Cities Mission, the objective is to promote
cities that provide core infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to its citizens,
a clean and sustainable environment and application of ‘Smart’ Solutions. The
focus is on sustainable and inclusive development and the idea is to look at
compact areas, create a replicable model which will act like a light house to other
aspiring cities.
The core infrastructure elements in a Smart City can be categorized
under two main headings, viz.,

Urban Infrastructure Facilities

• Adequate water supply,
• Assured electricity supply,
• Sanitation, including Solid Waste Management
• Efficient urban mobility and public transport
• Affordable housing, especially for the poor,
• Robust IT connectivity and digitalization,
• Good governance, especially e-Governance and citizen participation,
• Safety and security of citizens, particularly women, children and the elderly,
and
• Health and Education

Urban Resilience Practices

• Sustainable environment by controlling global warming through
• Green Urban Economy practices like Solid Waste Management including
landfill projects, waste energy, LED and Solar Lighting and green area
development.

Smart Cities in Indian Context

The smart cities concept of urban development in India is a recent
approach introduced by the Government of India with a primary focus on value
based citizen delivery system in the cities selected under the ‘smart cities
ranking’. The selection of smart city is based on criteria of defined parameters
having a prime focus on citizen participation. Accordingly, the following smart
cities have been selected for development under first phase:

88 

 
 When compared to smart cities governance in India with that of similar
concept in the global context, the implementation of smart city approach in India
involves certain difficulties in view of the socio, economic, political and behavioral
factors prevailing in India. More than one third Indian population lives in slums,
with low economic and civic infrastructural facilities and at the same time more than
80% of total Indian population uses the smart communication technology of mobile
phones. However, the transformation process of smart city development has to
undergo the prevailing situation of socio, economic, political and behavioral factors,
which can be tackled only through effective “capacity building” approach for making
the citizens of India smart.
A detailed study of some of the twenty cities selected in the first phase
reveals that the smart city development is centered around the citizen
participation process. It is needless to state the roles of the citizens, and the
citizen governance based on the active participation of citizens is considered to
be critical for smart city development. The Government is attaching prime
concern from the initial selection phase till the targeted phase of development,
and reiterating the same throughout.

Visakhapatnam towards Smart City

Visakhapatnam, also reputedly called as Vizag, a major urban
agglomeration both in terms of area and population, is considered as 12th largest
city in India. The city is situated on the east coast of Bay of Bengal, equidistance
between two metropolitan cities-Chennai and Kolkata. Visakhapatnam is located at
a distance of 587 Kms (365 miles) from Hyderabad, which is the common State
capital of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana States in India. It is 363 Kms (226 miles)
from Amaravathi, the proposed reorganized State capital of Andhra Pradesh. The
city is the fastest developing urban centre in the reorganized State of Andhra
Pradesh in the Indian subcontinent, considered to be the largest in an area of 620
Sq. Kms with a population of 2.16 million. Visakhapatnam is also called as ‘the
City of Destiny’ which is popularly known for its natural beauty stretched around
150 kms of blue sea coast of Bay of Bengal. The green hills surrounding the entire
city alongside the beaches with a picturesque, is a jewel on the east coast of India,
recently hosted International Fleet Review (IFR)-2016 with participation of naval
officials from 54 countries across the world. The city Government of
Visakhapatnam could successfully handle the International Fleet Review-2016 with
its vast urban development and large infrastructure background.

89 

 
 Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) is the local body of
Visakhapatnam city. The city has been qualified for selection for development as
“Smart City”, during the first phase of selection among the 98 Indian cities identified
for smart city development by the Government of India, based on certain important
criteria of selection such as smart city development plan, citizen participation and
the scope for future development. The city has been qualified and placed 8th
position in the list of 20 smart cities selected for funding by the Govt. of India, based
on the existing urban development and infrastructure facilities available in the city in
accordance with the smart city plan document prepared for a specific developed
area of 1650 acres in the city on the basis of ‘retrofit’ approach. After successful
handling of the recent international events like International Fleet Review(IFR) and
Global Investment Summit during the beginning of the year 2016, Visakhapatnam
is considered for attaining the position of one of the international cities in India.
Based on the study conducted by the members of the committee appointed by the
Ministry of Urban Development, Govt. of India, the city has been placed in the 5th
“Best Clean City” in India.

Smart City achievements of Visakhapatnam

3. How could Visakhapatnam achieve this great success?

The reasons for the success story of Visakhapatnam city can be
attributed to specific important factors:
• the inbuilt natural beauty and the urban resilience of the city with
its socio, economic and geographical background
• the urban development and infrastructure facilities already existing
in the city
• scope for improving the urban infrastructure facilities, which are
under pipeline

90 

 
5. Urbanization growth of Visakhapatnam
Urbanization is the population shift from rural to city areas, and a gradual
increase in the population of citizens living in urban areas. The rapid urbanization
in India demands improved living
conditions with sound infrastructural
facilities and environmental sustainability.
The beginning of 21st century has seen a
rapid growth of urbanization in the city of
Visakhapatnam. The growth in terms of
population and land area is more than
two fold over a period of three decades.
The population of the city has been
increased from 9.69 lakhs during 2005 to
18.69 lakhs during 2011. The urban
governance of the city has been
strengthened in terms of human and
financial resources which are catering to the primary need of the improved living
conditions of the citizens of Visakhapatnam. A scientific approach in the urban
development and environmental sustainability practices is under active
implementation over the past one decade in order to cope up with the increased
urbanization of the city.
Source: Census 2011
Urbanization of Visakhapatnam
Sl. Area Population
Geographical unit
No. (Sq.kms) (in lakhs)

1 Municipal Corporation of
111 9.69
Vizag (MCV) prior to 2005

2 Greater Visakhapatnam
Municipal Corporation 534 14.5
(GVMC) during 2005

3 GVMC after merger of

Anakapalli and Bheemili 620 18.69
Municipalities

Source: Census 2011

Urban Development Scenario of Visakhapatnam

The rapid growth of urbanization associated with corresponding increase
in the volume of demand for citizen services and quality of life in the city has given
scope for major urban development project implementation under the Urban
Rejuvenation Mission launched during the year 2005-06. The case study of
Visakhapatnam explains the success story of attaining the status of eligibility for
smart city reforms. The increased volume of demand for citizen services in the
urban agglomeration of Visakhapatnam city has given scope for major urban
development project implementation under the erstwhile urban development
program launched during the year 2005-06. The following projects have been
successfully grounded and completed during the plan period 2005-12:

91 

 
 Urban Development Projects grounded and
Completed during 2006-12

Projects Cost*
Sl. (Rs. in
Category No.
No. Details Crores / $
in millions)
Replacement of existing
Thatipudi Pipeline
Pipeline from TSR to Yendada
and to Kommadi Junction Rs.
Refurbishment of Water Supply 734.00
Water Distribution in Gajuwaka
1. 7
Supply Augmentation of Drinking $
Water Supply to 32 Peripheral 109.55
areas
Refurbishment of Distribution
of Water Supply Systems
Comprehensive Water Supply
System in Old City
Providing Sewerage in old city Rs.
282.00
2. Sewerage 2 Sewerage System in the $
Central Part of Visakhapatnam 42.08
Regularization of S.L. Canal
Rs.85.00
Storm Regularization of Yerrigedda
3. Water 3 Improvement of Storm Water $
Drainage Drains (Gangulagedda & 12.70
Yerrigedda Branch Canal)
Rs.453.00
Urban
4. Transport
2 BRTS Corridors and Flyover $
67.61

7352 Houses in 22 Poor

Rs.
Settlements (Package-I) and
Housing 416.00
7968 Houses in 6 Poor
5. and Infra- 7
Settlement (Package-II)
structure $
62.09
Infrastructure facilities at
various Poor Settlements
Rs.
1970.00
Total 21
$
294.03
* Project Investment/cost incurred as on 13-08-2014.
* Currency conversion: US$ = Rs.67
* Amount conversion: 1 Million = 10 Lakhs (1 Crore = 100 Lakhs)

The other urban resilience projects implemented and initiated in

Visakhapatnam city are:
• Solid Waste Management
• Waste to Energy
• Low Carbon Mobility Projects such as public transport, cycling
tracks and metro rail
• Underground cabling for power transmission
• LED Street Lighting
• Greenery

92 

 
Smart City Selection Process
Each aspiring city among the identified 100 cities for development of Smart
Cities competes for selection as a Smart City in what is called a ‘City Challenge’.
The process involves two stages vizi., short listing of cities by States, and the
challenge round for selection under stage 2.

Stage 1 : Short listing of cities by States

The State begins with short listing the potential smart cities on the basis of
conditions precedent and scoring criteria and in accordance with the total number
allocated to it. The first stage of the competition will be intra-state, in which cities in
the State will compete on the conditions precedent and the scoring criteria laid out.
These conditions precedent have to be met by the potential cities to succeed in the
first round of competition and the highest scoring potential smart cities will be short
listed and recommended to participate in Stage 2 of the Challenge. The information
sent by the ULBs in the forms has to be evaluated by the State Mission Director
and the evaluation placed before the State-level High Powered Steering Committee
(HPSC) for approval. The cities emerging successful in the first round of
competition will be sent by the State as the recommended shortlist of smart cities to
MoUD by the stipulated date. The State Government has to send with the
recommended list. The MoUD will thereafter announce the list of 100 smart cities.

Stage 2 : The Challenge Round for selection

In the second stage of the competition, each of the potential 100 smart cities
shall prepare their proposals for participation in the ‘City Challenge’. This is a
crucial stage as each city’s Smart City Proposal (SCP) is expected to contain the
model chosen, whether retrofitting or redevelopment or Greenfield development
or a mix thereof, and additionally include a Pan-City dimension with Smart
Solutions. The SCP will also outline the consultations held with the city residents
and other stakeholders, how the aspirations are matched with the vision contained
in the SCP and importantly, what is the proposal for financing of the smart city plan
including the revenue model to attract private participation. An evaluation criteria
for the SCPs has been worked out by MoUD based on professional advice and this
should act as guidance to the cities for preparing their proposal. The criteria and
the documents to be send with the application have been provided to the cities.
By a stipulated date, to be indicated by MoUD to the States/UTs, proposals
will be submitted to MoUD for all these 100 cities. These will be evaluated by a
Committee involving a panel of national and international experts, organizations
and institutions. The winners of the first round of Challenge will be announced by
MoUD. Thereafter, while the winning cities start taking action on making their city
smart, those who do not get selected will start work on improving their city smart,
those who do not get selected will start work on improving their SCPs for
consideration in the second round. Depending on the nature of the SCPs and
outcomes of the first round of the Challenge, the MoUD may decide to provide
handholding assistance to the potential Smart Cities to upgrade their proposals
before starting the second round.

93 

 
 Smart City Selection Process

  Letter to all state governments to shortlist potential Smart Cities based

  on Stage-I criteria according to number of Smart Cities distributed
  across states /UTs by the MoUD. This is the first stage of Intra-State
  competition.
 
 
 
 
 
  Other cities prepare to improve their proposal for next round of the
  Challenge
 
 
 
 
 
 
Selected cities declared – Round 1 Smart Cities
 
By stipulated date Stage 2 proposals submitted. Evaluation by a panel
 
of experts.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  Each potential Smart City prepares its proposal assisted by a consultant
  (from a panel prepared by MoUD) and a hand-holding External Agency
  (various offers received such as World Bank, ADB, GEF, USTDA, JICA,
  DFID, AFD, KfW, UN Habitat)
 
 
 
 
 
 
  On the basis of response from States/UTs, the list of potential 100
  Smart Cities is announced. The second stage of All India competition
  begins.
 
 
 
 
  Selected cities set up SPV Other cities prepare to
  and start implementation improve their proposal for
  of their SCP. Preparation
next round of the Challenge
  of DPRs, tenders etc.
 
 

94 

 
Smart City Plan of Visakhapatnam
The following draft smart city proposal has been submitted by the city
government of Visakhapatnam, which has been considered for selection for smart
city development among the twenty cities selected in the first phase, by the
Government of India. The model adopted by the city is under retrofit category, and
the details of smart city plan are given here under:

Draft Smart City Proposal (Source: www.mygov.in)

Top Priorities of Vizag Citizens

• The citizens were asked to pick top three areas of improvement for Vizag
Smart City
• They picked their priorities under classifications-1, 2 and 3.
• The citizens were asked to respond to 26 questions as part of the survey
form
• Feedback received from 3,90,000 citizen
• The citizen feedback and engagement process obtained through hard copy
survey forms, www.mygov.in , www.yourvoiceyourvizag.com
• Online feedback through www.yourvoiceyourvizag.com “My Vizag of
tomorrow” – A Vision statement competition
• “My Top priority areas of
improvement in Vizag” –A Poll
• Facebook / Social Media
• Mobile
• Whattsapp and SMS
messaging
• Ward Level Surveys (door to
door)
• Focus Groups: Sector Specific
Focus group/Stakeholder
meetings
• Reach out/ Awareness
Campaigns : Posters/Banners
all over city – awareness
Daily Local cable, FM radio,
cinema –awareness 9 audio
system mounted vans visited
wards/public spaces

95 

 
Top Priorities of Vizag Citizens
• Source : www.Mygov.in , www.yourvoiceyourvizag.com
` www.Mygov.in , www.yourvoiceyourvizag.com

Top Priorities of Vizag Citizens

• Source : www.Mygov.in , www.yourvoiceyourvizag.com
www.Mygov.in , www.yourvoiceyourvizag.com

SWOT ANALYSIS
Strengths
• Visakhapatnam has a land area of 566.95 sq.km and an overall
population of 18,81,952 with an average density of approximately
3,320 people per sq.km.
• Strong industrial base and port activity (Major port in the Bay of
Bengal)
• Emergence of PCPIR in close proximity
• Presence of International Airport
• Presence of Eastern Naval Command
• Slum relocation and redevelopment has been done in many parts of
the city (VSIP improved the service provision to about 200,000 slum
residents)
• Visakhapatnam has a multitude of tourist destinations ranging from
heritage sites to beaches & owing to its location it offers access to
many other tourist destinations in the larger region

96 

 
 • 85% of the city population is covered with treated water supply by
GVMC
• 100 percent coverage of 24x7 power supply
• 100% coverage with LED street lighting
• 52 % trips are walk trips
• BRTS already implemented
• Project on underground wiring along Beach Road has got approval
and will be funded by World Bank

Weaknesses

• Untapped tourism potential (beaches and forests)

• Inadequate infrastructure (Including Open Spaces/ Playgrounds) in
GVMC schools
• Lack of open spaces within 10 mins walking distance of a park
• 34% of urban population having BMI >25Kg/m2; the prevalence of
hypertension based on measurement in urban area is 24%; the
prevalence of self-reported diabetes is 12.5% in urban areas
• Half of the study population were having a cluster of ш3 risk factors
for NCDs and more than 10% of urban study population were having
clustering of ш 5 risk factors for Non-Communicable Diseases
• The city is prone to cyclone and incurred loss to life and infrastructure
during cyclone Hud-Hud in October 2014 (Source: CDP 2015)
• No Comprehensive Disaster Management Plan in place (Revised
CDP for Visakhapatnam – 2041, Feb 2015)
• Absence of quality pedestrian environment »Limited availability of
public transportation Absence of a city wide comprehensive Solid
Waste Management (SWM) strategy, waste disposed in a dump site
in Kapplupada (Source: CDP, May 2013)
• Water supply losses stand at 10.10 MGD in a total clear water supply
of 67.39 MGD(Domestic + Non-domestic). NRW losses at 15 percent
of overall supply
• Deficit of approx.30 MGD in water supply including losses (Total
demand is 97 MGD and supply is 67.39 MGD)
• Only 1.2 percent energy generation through solar panels as of 2015
(Source: APEPDCL response to Performa)
• About 40% of Visakhapatnam’s population do not have access to
sanitation network
• Open defecation is seen as a health hazard
Opportunities
• Waste minimization, source segregation, improved collection
coverage, resource recovery from waste and scientific end disposal
need to be systematically implemented by the city for better solid
waste management
• Integrated Disaster Management Plan along with E- Governance
platform
• Reduction of City wide NRW
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 • Provision of adequate walking infrastructure since 52% trips are made
on foot
• Shift of Public Transport (Buses) and Para-Transit (Auto- Rickshaw)
from fossil fuel to CNG
• City wide comprehensive tourism plan with tourist information
dissemination plan
• Water recycling and reuse
• Smart light poles with sensor system to monitor air pollution, noise
pollution and disaster announcement system
• Public bike sharing system could be explored since it has a direct
impact on the improvement in the health of the citizens
• Power generation through Solar roof top to reduce reliance on thermal
power
• Changes in DCRs to promote Mixed Use Development
• Provision of Public Toilets in public places and Slums

Threats
• Air pollution, due to high vehicular growth rate of 9% annually and due
to coal handling at the Visakhapatnam Port, Steel Plant Operations
and diesel operated para transit, is a major threat to the health of the
citizens (Revised CDP for Visakhapatnam – 2041, Feb 2015)
• Solid waste dumping into the drains has severely altered the natural
drainage of the city, causing water logging during monsoons (Source:
CDP, May 2013) Untreated storm water released directly onto the
beach areas »Proliferation of illegal housing on hill slopes
• Cyclones are seen as a major threat to the coastal city of Vizag
• Water supply and demand gap is resulting in unabated ground water
extraction which will eventually lead to salinity ingress and loss of
aquifers
• Rise in sea water level

VISION STATEMENT
“A Resilient and Healthy Metropolis for People”
• The city of destiny is envisioned to become a leader in sustainability,
healthy living, equality and innovation
Goals
• Safe and healthy City

Compact and walkable city

• Safe streets and neighborhoods
• Parks and Playgrounds and active recreation

A Sustainable City
• Minimize environmental footprint
• Minimize waste & waste to energy –align with swatch bharat mission

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 A Dynamic City
• Tourism potential
• Technology connectivity –align with digital india

A Connected & Green City

• More mobility choices & less dependency on fossil fuel
• Walkable and bicyclability

An Equitable City
• Citizens have access to quality education & health, technology

A Resilient City
• Climate change preparedness
• Strong neighborhood organizations and strong collaboration between
city and citizens

Draft Concept Plan – Planned City

Our approach towards this Concept Plan revolves around the vision of
creating - “A Resilient and Healthy Metropolis for People”

Taking into account the global concern on climate change and climate
resiliency our approach gives due consideration to ‘Resiliency’ in a city such that
climate related challenges are adequately addressed in order to minimize the loss
of life and damage to city infrastructure.

Health and Wellbeing of PEOPLE’ has been given due importance.

In order that extreme climate events do not disrupt the lives of the Citizens
due to failure of service delivery, our Pan-City proposal focuses on ‘Disaster
Management and preparedness and e-Governance’.

  

99 

 
Draft Smart City Proposal – Area Basis
Smart City Features Considered for Site Evaluation

Robust IT Connectivity Solar Generated

and Digitatlization Electricity

Innovative use of Parks Pedestrain friendly

and Open spaces pathways

Intelligent Traffic
Management and Smart Non-Vehicle Streets /
Parking Zones

Walkability and Cycling Assured Power Supply

Energy Efficient Street Storm Water Reuse

Lighting and Rain water
harvesting

Waste Water
Smart Metering
Recycling

Underground Electric
Wiring
Sanitation

Solid Waste
Management Safety and Security of
Citizens

Adequate Water Supply

100 

 
 Area 2
Area 1

The three
shortlisted sites
based on citizen
responses

Area 3

Area 1: Area around Rushikonda Beach

Area 2: Area around Kailasagiri

Area 3: Area around RK Beach

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Selected Area

Area 3 

The selected area includes resident population as well visitors coming

from the city, the region and the world. Making such an area smart would be an
ideal demonstration project to showcase the citizens and tourist alike.

Inspired by local neighborhood of Kirlampudi, who have taken many smart

initiatives to enhance their neighborhood. Similarly the area-wide idea is to serve as
a test bed for smart city initiatives for brown field cities like Visakhapatnam.

The primary objective is to identify locally relevant smart city initiatives and
technologies that could yield measurable benefits.

Inspirations
Area based smart solutions builds upon the ongoing initiatives within the
city, such as speed limit cap, vehicle free zones initiatives by GVMC and Andhra
university, beach front restoration project to enhance tourism potential etc.
Also, the area wide strategies are inspired from a local neighborhood of
Kirlampudi that has taken many smart initiative to enhance their neighbourhood.
Similarly the area-wide idea is to serve as a test bed for smart city initiatives for
brown field cities like Visakhapatnam.
The primary objective is to identify locally relevant smart city initiatives and
technologies that could yield measurable benefits. With a focus on “Prevention is
better than cure” the prominent projects include:

102 

 
Vision Statement
‘A Resilient and Healthy Metropolis for PEOPLE’

Projects addressing resiliency of Vizag

• Disaster Management & E-Governance–Pan City
• Underground Electric Wiring –Area Wide
• Shore Protection along Beach Road –Area Wide

Projects addressing Health of Citizens

24 x 7 Water Supply–Area Wide
Underground Drainage–Area Wide
Recycled Water Supply Area Wide
Storm Water & Road Side Drains–Area Wide
Solid Waste Management –Area Wide
Road Side Landscaping & Retrofitting of Parks–Area Wide
Speed limit of 25km/hr–Area wide
Projects addressing Health of Citizens:
Public Bike Sharing–Area Wide
Pollution Monitoring Systems–Area WIDE
Public Toilets & Community Toilets –Area Wide
Convention Centre & Basement Car Park –Area Wide

Projects for People

Smart Signalling & Traffic Surveillance –Area Wide
Science Labs in GVMC Schools –Area WIDE
Foot Path Improvement –Area Wide
Solar Roof Top –Area Wide
Smart Metering for Electricity –Area Wide
Housing for all –Area Wide
Beach Beautification–Area Wide
Retrofitting of VUDA Park–Area Wide

Area Based Development – Land use

103 

 
 Area Based Development - Mobility

Smart Bus Stops

Solar powered Bus stops with

LED display for bus passenger
information equipped with bike
cluster and toilet.

Bicycle Super Highway along Beach Road

Rent ‘a’ Bike

Provision of bike clusters and major bus stops
near public areas connecting institutions, parks,
etc containing rentable bikes including electric
bikes. Bus users will have option to rent a bike from
bus stop and perform their journey for first and
last mile connectivity. Payment of rent will be
through smartcards.

104 

 
Restriction of Use of Auto Rickshaws
Environmental friendly battery operated
e-rickshaws will be used for transporting
people.

Smart Streets:
Efficient street network connecting all public places from nearest Restriction
transport node having adequate space for on Use of cycling and walking Auto With
walkways and cycle dedicated Rickshaws tracks. Street cross section for
Redesigning Beach Road with Environmental friendly battery operated e-rickshaws
will be used provision of Public for transporting people Realm containing spaces for
walking, cycling, hawker zone and parking of autos.

105 

 
Active Beachfront & Shared Streets

Area Based Development | Potential Areas For Enhancement & Development

Area Wide Other Projects

• Landscaping of Green Spaces and Roads
• including Beach Road Promenade
• (Hardscape, Softscape, Street furniture, Signage's etc.)

106 

 
 Transportation (Public Bike Share and Charging Stations)

Community Toilets & Public Toilets with Solar Roof Top

107 

 
 Renewable Energy-Start By Installing In Public / Institutional Buildings

Area Wide Other Projects Multi-Level Car Park with Retail Outlet

Refurbishing & Retrofitting of Rajiv Gandhi SmritiBhavan

108 

 
Proposed Smart City Projects
The Local Government estimated an amount of Rs.1602 Crores towards
cost of various Smart City projects to be spent during the 5 years period during
2016-2021, as detailed below:

Amount Rs. in
Year
Crores / $ in Millions
Rs. 275.00
2016-17
$ 41.04
Rs. 504.00
2017-18
$ 75.22
Rs. 471.00
2018-19
$70.30
Rs. 263.00
2019-20
$39.25
Rs. 89.00
2020-21
$13.25
Rs. 1602.00
Total
$239. 06

Source: Eenadu Daily dt.27-03-2016

109 

 
 Sl. Estimated
No. Proposed Project Cost
(Rs. inCrores)
1 Landscaping and Installation of Digital Boards 95.69
Towards Green Area Development
2 Pollution Control Technologies and Systems 138.00
3 Solar Roofing of Government Buildings 305.00
4 Development of Rajiv Smruithi Bhavan 9.00
including Solar Roofing
5 Modern Smart Electricity Metering System 26.00
6 Smart Signaling and Data Centre Systems for 12.00
Traffic Control
7 Development of VUDA Park 12.00
8 Information, Communication and Technology 50.00
System
9 Installation of Underground Electric Cabling 250.00
System
10 Low Carbon Mobility Vehicles, Cycling Tracks, 50.00
Electric Charging, Stations and Battery
Operated Auto Rickshaws
11 Construction of Multi Level Car Parking Areas 66.00
12 Control of Beach Erosion 125.00
13 Housing and Infrastructure for poor settlements 54.00
14 Coastal Beautification for 240.00
Tourism Development
15 Disaster Management e-governance 141.00
16 e-Rickshaws 2.30
17 e-toilets with solar roofing 6.00
18 Central controlling and monitoring system for 15.00
LED Street `Lighting
19 Science Labs in the Municipal Schools 5.50
Total Rs. 1602.49
($ 239.10
Millions)
`Source: Eenadu Daily dt.27-03-2016
110 

 
 4. THE RESILIENCE PRACTICES

“Climate change constitutes serious threat to global security,

an immediate raise to national security, and make no
mistake it will impact how the military defends country.”
“I want to sure that the whole world is able to pass on to
future generations the God-given beauty of this plannet”.
-President Barack Obama,
in the context of Paris Summit (COP-21)

The present section tries to explain the city resilience practices followed by
the local government of Visakhapatnam, the strategies evolved for enhancing the
city resilience as part of the Smart City Mission, besides the inherent ecological
natural resilience of the city, which has been experienced during the severe Hud Hud
cyclone, and the recovery of green area of the city within a short period of one year.
Before, we extend our discussion on these lines, it may be necessary to understand
few important concepts of resilience, vulnerability, risks of shocks and threads etc.,
in the context of the recent Hud Hud cyclone faced by the city.

Resilience is the capacity of people, organizations and systems to prepare

for, respond, recover from and thrive in the face of hazards, and to adjust to
continual change. Resilient systems share certain qualities such as redundancy,
flexibility and responsiveness. Hazard is a sudden event or gradual change, which
can lead to impacts on a place or people. Exposure is people and things located in
a place that could be affected by a hazard. Vulnerability is the propensity for a
hazard to affect the wellbeing of a person, community or organization. Risk is the
impact that occurs, whose severity depends on how the above factors interact.
Across the globe, governments, business and communities are seeing an ever-
increasing frequency of extreme weather-related events. These events are playing
out against a backdrop of global population growth and urbanization, leading to a
complex knot of interrelated pressures.

111 
 
Urban Planning and Resilience
In emerging and established cities alike, these trends are changing the spatial
pattern of risk and radically altering perceptions of whether they are ‘safe’ or ‘well
prepared’. Cities have a tremendous challenge to maintain social well-being and
economic vitality in the face of these complex, uncertain and constantly changing
risks. Creating Resilient Cities Technologies alone cannot make urban infrastructure
resilient. They will not be adopted without an appropriate climate for the required
investments, and their potential benefit will not be secured unless system operators
are equipped to use and act upon the information and controls that technologies can
provide. Changing social, political and economic conventions is as fundamental to
the success of city resilience initiatives as is upgrading physical assets.
Implementation of technology solutions often requires a broader ‘enabling’ toolkit,
which includes changes to urban planning, policy and regulation; governance;
knowledge development; and financing models. No single piece of this toolkit can
deliver resilience on its own but a number of actions must be taken. Urban planning
and land use policies can direct development in ways that protect people and
structures from harm. Every city has its own planning constraints related to
topography, historic patterns of growth, land ownership or tenure, and land values.
Improper planning ‘norms’ can deter proactive change and impede progressive
adjustments to changing external conditions. Nevertheless, effective planning and
land use policies can reduce the loss of life and property in the event of a disaster.
Buffers, building codes, easements, transfers of development rights, and no-build
and no-rebuild zones can aid in this goal. Inadequate or poorly performing
infrastructure may not be easily adapted to meet resilience criteria, while the lack of
space may inhibit relocation or renewal of at-risk assets. Resilience practices should
be adopted in policies, planning and construction across all city districts, to ensure
that resilience of the whole city is increased and not enhanced in one community at
the expense of another.

Governance should take a whole system approach to city management

Governance needs to take a whole system approach, taking advantage of the
interdependency between sectors through greater coordination and communication.
Collaborative planning should be normal behavior, not just a crisis response
strategy. Decision making should extend across disciplines and progress should be
monitored using shared metrics. Collaboration is important throughout disaster
preparation, relief recovery and rebuilding. Different parts of the process require
different skills and expert knowledge, which can only be gained through an
interdisciplinary approach. Improved knowledge and capacity can help city
stakeholders plan for and recover from emergency situations.

Between 2000 and 2012, natural disasters-including weather, health and

seismic events – caused $1.7trillion (£1.1 trillion) in damages related to direct
impacts on infrastructure communities and the environment together with reductions
of business profitability and economic growth in affected regions. This section
explores how the resilience of critical urban infrastructure systems might be
enhanced to prepare for Visakhapatnam more effectively for major weather related
hazards.

112 
 
Why must cities be resilient?
Rapid population growth, large scale environmental change and a globalized
economy make today’s world one of increasing complexity, uncertainty and
continuous transformation. Directly and indirectly, these factors give rise to the
growing frequency, magnitude and geographic range of major hazards. Hazards
include man-made and natural events, both long term stresses and sudden shocks.
This section focuses on the approach for the strategy and practices followed in the
city of Visakhapatnam for building and enhancing urban resilience in view of
continuous threat of r both natural and manmade risks faced by the city.

Improved knowledge and capacity can help city stakeholders plan for and
recover from emergency situations. There is an information gap at many levels in city
decision making from the top level of government down to individual households.
Since disasters are sporadic and often unpredictable, disaster management
capability such as dedicated personnel and training across organizations can erode
as time passes since the last event. Consequently, institutional knowledge can be
inadequate and, when an event occurs, rapid and coordinated action is inhibited.
Knowledge and the capacity to act also influence the types of infrastructure that a
city is willing or able to adopt. A strong understanding of a city’s dependence on
systems, the interdependencies between systems, regional convergence and
coupling is needed to optimize the selection of new technologies and equipment.
Any new infrastructure must be appropriate to the local skill base, and must be
operable and maintainable by local people. A strategy should be in place before a
disaster occurs, which supports targeted knowledge development and
communications. Knowledge is fundamental to ensure that individuals, communities,
businesses, government and other groups are prepared for sudden events.
Appropriate information should be channeled to specific audiences and
neighborhoods before a crisis occurs. During an event, communications must be
instructive, frequent, clear and accurate, within the constraints of communication
systems available at the time. Failures can occur when policies undermine one
another. Policies and programs may need to be updated to promote resilience. Cities
must clearly signal their goals and ensure consistency in their messaging. In some
cases, individual city policies have acted against resilient outcomes or have proved
too easily influenced to achieve their priorities for urban development. Policies must
be mutually supportive across sectors, pushing towards common objectives of
resilience and long term sustainability. Development of cohesive policy proposals
requires improved communication and shared decision making across sectors,
leveraging the interdependencies between city systems and reflecting them within
policy and regulations. Updates to planning and local development policies must be
considered in tandem with necessary infrastructure improvements to enable change
to be delivered cost effectively as part of scheduled regeneration and development
projects. Planners and designers should be encouraged to prepare sensitivity
analyses, mitigation and response plans for known hazards, to ensure that planned
developments are prepared for events of varying magnitude. Cities must integrate
planning for future demand with plans to retire assets that are redundant or beyond
repair, and those that are increasingly vulnerable to risks. Adapting older cities to
meet new risks will take time. Without a comprehensive understanding of the
potential risks, cities can miss critical opportunities for investing in resilience.

113 
 
Urban design can balance the preservation of local identity with city risk
mitigation.
Compromises must be reached
between the need to preserve existing
urban character, and the need to protect
the city from future hazards. For
example, policies that promote a retreat
from waterfronts or installation of new
physical protection for cities may affect
local identity. Where at-risk buildings
must be raised above historic flood
levels, concern is voiced about the loss
of street activity and retail viability.
Resolving these conflicts implies
innovations in urban design, which offer added value over standard approaches.
Deliberative planning is essential to help cities secure the support of residents while
achieving multiple goals: sustainability, liveability, economic prosperity and
resilience.
From the foregoing discussion it can be derived urban resilience is “the
capability to prepare for, respond to, and recover from significant multi-hazard
threats with minimum damage to public safety and health, the economy, and
security" of a given urban area.
Contemporary academic discussion of
urban resilience focuses on three distinct
threats- Climate Change Natural
Disasters and terrorism. The present
section initially focus on the challenges
and disasters specific to climate change
and consequential threat of disasters with
specific reference to cyclones,
and explains Contemporary academic
discussion of urban resilience focuses on three distinct threats - Climate Change
Natural Disasters and terrorism.
The present section initially focus on the challenges and disasters specific to
climate change and consequential threat of disasters with specific reference to
cyclones, and explains how implementation of various urban resilience strategies will
work towards counter pulling of the adverse effects of threats of climate change,
based on the present case study of Hud Hud cyclone.

The urban impacts of climate change vary widely across geographical and
developmental scales. Resilience-boosting strategies will be introduced and outlined.
Resilience is especially important in urban areas, because over the past century
there has been a considerable increase in urbanisation and urban sprawl. Half of the
world’s population now lives in cities, a figure that is set to rise to 80% by 2050.
Mass density of people makes them especially vulnerable both to the impacts of

114 
 
acute disasters and the slow, creeping effects of the changing climate; all making
resilience planning critically important.

There are various strategies to increase the resilience of those most

vulnerable to urban heat waves. As established, these vulnerable citizens are
primarily socially isolated seniors.
Other vulnerable groups include
young children (especially those
facing abject poverty or living in
informal housing), people with
underlying health problems, the
infirm or disabled and the
homeless. Accurate and early
prediction of heat waves is of
fundamental importance, as it
gives time for the government to
issue extreme heat alerts. Urban
areas must prepare and be ready to implement heat-wave emergency response
initiatives. Seasonal campaigns aimed to educate the public on the risks associated
with heat waves will help prepare the broad community, but in response to
impending heat events more direct action is required. Local government must quickly
communicate with the groups and institutions that work with heat-vulnerable
populations.

Definitions of Urban Resilience

The concept of resilience in ecological systems was first introduced by the

Canadian ecologist C.S. Holing in order to describe the persistence of natural
systems in the face of changes in ecosystem variables due to natural or
anthropogenic causes. Resilience has been defined in two ways in ecological
literature:
• As the time required for an ecosystem to return to an equilibrium or steady-
state following a perturbation (which is also defined as stability by some
authors). This definition of resilience is used in other fields such as physics
and engineering, and hence has been termed ‘engineering resilience’ by
Holing.
• As "the capacity of a system to absorb disturbance and reorganize while
undergoing change so as to still retain essentially the same function,
structure, identity, and feedbacks".
The second definition has been termed ‘ecological resilience’, and it
presumes the existence of multiple stable states or regimes. Some shallow
temperate lakes can exist within either clear water regime, which provides
many ecosystem services, or a turbid water regime, which provides reduced
ecosystem services and can produce toxic algae blooms. The regime or state is
dependent upon lake phosphorus cycles, and either regime can be resilient
dependent upon the lake's ecology and management.

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Human Impacts on Resilience
Resilience refers to ecosystem's stability and capability of tolerating
disturbance and restoring itself. If the disturbance is of sufficient magnitude or
duration, a threshold may be
reached where the ecosystem
undergoes a regime shift, possibly
permanently. Sustainable use of
environmental goods and services
requires understanding and
consideration of the resilience of the
ecosystem and its limits. However,
the elements which influence
ecosystem resilience are
complicated. For example various
elements such as the water cycle, fertility, biodiversity, plant diversity and climate,
interact fiercely and affect different systems.

There are many areas where human activity impacts upon and is also
dependent upon the resilience of terrestrial, aquatic and marine ecosystems. These
include agriculture, deforestation, pollution, mining, recreation, overfishing, dumping
of waste into the sea and climate change.

Agriculture

Agriculture can be seen as a significant example which the resilience of

terrestrial ecosystems should be considered. The organic matter (elements carbon
and nitrogen) in soil, which is supposed to be recharged by multiple plants, is the
main source of nutrients for crop growth. At the same time, intensive agriculture
practices in response to global food demand and shortages involves the removal of
weeds and the application of fertilizers to increase food production. However as a
result of agricultural intensification and the application of herbicides to control weeds,
fertilizers to accelerate and increase crop growth and pesticides to control insects,
plant biodiversity is reduced as is the supply of organic matter to replenish soil
nutrients and prevent run-off. This leads to a reduction in soil fertility and productivity.
More sustainable agricultural practices would take into account and estimate the
resilience of the land and monitor and balance the input and output of organic
matter.

Deforestation
The term deforestation has a meaning that
covers crossing the threshold of forest's resilience
and losing its ability to return its originally stable
state. To recover itself, a forest ecosystem needs

116 
 
suitable interactions among climate conditions and bio-actions, and enough area. In
addition, generally, the resilience of a forest system allows recovery from a relatively
small scale of damage (such as lightning or landslide) of up to 10 per cent of its
area.[8] The larger the scale of damage, the more difficult it is for the forest
ecosystem to restore and maintain its balance. Deforestation also decreases
biodiversity of both plant and animal life and can lead to an alteration of the climatic
conditions of an entire area. Deforestation can also lead to species extinction, which
can have a domino effect particularly when keystone species are removed or when a
significant number of species is removed and their ecological function is lost. The
city of Visakhapatnam is experiencing deforestation due to increasing urbanisation.

Vulnerability
Vulnerability is an essential component of the climate resilience discussion
because people that are the most likely to experience the majority of negative
impacts of climate change are
those that are least capable of
developing robust and
comprehensive climate resiliency
infrastructure and response
systems. However what exactly
constitutes a vulnerable community
is still open to debate. The
International Panel on Climate
Change has defined vulnerability
using three characteristics: the
“adaptive capacity, sensitivity, and
exposure” to the effects of climate
change. The adaptive capacity refers to a community’s capacity to create resiliency
infrastructure, while the sensitivity and exposure elements are both tied to economic
and geographic elements that vary widely in differing communities. There are,
however, many commonalities between vulnerable communities.
Vulnerability can mainly be broken down into two major categories, economic
vulnerability, based on socioeconomic factors, and geographic vulnerability. Neither
is mutually exclusive. Visakhapatnam is vulnerable towards heat waves during April
to June, and heavy rain fall and floods due to depressions and cyclones in the
months of August to November.

Urban Resilience
There is increasing concern
on an international level with regard
to addressing and combating the
impending implications of climate
change for urban areas, where
populations of these cities around
the world are growing
disproportionately high. There is
even more concern for the rapidly
growing urban centers in

117 
 
developing countries, where the majority of urban inhabitants are poor or “otherwise
vulnerable to climate-related disturbances.” Urban centers around the world house
important societal and economic sectors, so resiliency framework has been
augmented to specifically include and focus on protecting these urban systems.

Human Resilience
Global climate change is going to increase the probability of extreme weather
events and environmental
disturbances around the world,
needless to say, future human
populations are going to have to
confront this issue. Every society
around the world differs in its
capacity with regards to combating
climate change because of certain
pre-existing factors such as having
the proper monetary and
institutional mechanisms in place to
execute preparedness and
recovery plans. Despite these
differences, communities around the world are on a level-playing field with regards to
building and maintaining at least some degree “human resilience”. Resilience has
two components: that provided by nature, and that provided through human action
and interaction. An example of climate resilience provided by nature is the manner in
which porous soil more effectively allows for the drainage of flood water than more
compact soil. An example of human action that affects climate resilience would be
the facilitation of response and recovery procedures by social institutions or
organizations. This theory of human resilience largely focuses on the human
populations and calls for building towards the overall goal of decreasing human
vulnerability in the face of climate change and extreme weather events. Vulnerability
to climatic disturbances has two sides: the first deals with the degree of exposure to
dangerous hazards, which one can effectively identify as susceptibility. The second
side deals with the capacity to recover from disaster consequences, or resilience in
other words. The looming threat of environmental disturbances and extreme weather
events certainly calls for some action, and human resiliency theory seeks to solve
the issue by largely focusing on decreasing the vulnerability of human populations.

Climate Change
Climate resilience is generally
defined as the capacity for a socio-
ecological system to:
• Absorb stresses and maintain
function in the face of external
stresses imposed upon it by
climate change and
• Adapt, reorganize, and evolve
into more desirable
configurations that improve the

118 
 
 sustainability of the system, leaving it better prepared for future climate
change impacts. Increasingly, climate change is

• threatening human communities around the world in a variety of ways such as

rising sea levels, increasingly frequent large storms, tidal surges and flooding
damage. One of the main results of climate change is rising sea water
temperature which has a serious effect on coral reefs, through thermal-stress
related coral bleaching. Between 1997-1998 the most significant worldwide
coral bleaching event was recorded which corresponded with the El
Nino Southern Oscillation, with significant damage to the coral reefs of the
Western Indian Ocean.

Dumping of Waste into the Sea

Dumping both depends upon
ecosystem resilience whilst threatening
it. Dumping of sewage and other
contaminants into the ocean is often
undertaken for the dispersive nature of
the oceans and adaptive nature and
ability for marine life to process
the marine debris and contaminants.
However, waste dumping threatens
marine ecosystems by poisoning marine
life and eutrophication.

Poisoning Marine Life

According to the International
Maritime Organization, oil spills can
have serious effects on marine life. The
OILPOL Convention recognized that
most oil pollution resulted from routine
shipboard operations such as the
cleaning of cargo tanks. In the 1950s,
the normal practice was simply to wash
the tanks out with water and then pump
the resulting mixture of oil and water into
the sea. OILPOL 54 prohibited the dumping of oily wastes within a certain distance
from land and in 'special areas' where the danger to the environment was especially
acute. In 1962 the limits were extended by means of an amendment adopted at a
conference organized by IMO. Meanwhile, IMO in 1965 set up a Subcommittee on
Oil Pollution, under the auspices of its Maritime Safety committee, to address oil
pollution issues. The threat of oil spills to marine life is recognized by those likely to
be responsible for the pollution, such as the International Tanker Owners Pollution

Federation
The marine ecosystem is highly complex and natural fluctuations in species
composition, abundance and distribution are a basic feature of its normal function.
The extent of damage can therefore be difficult to detect against this background

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variability. Nevertheless, the key to understanding damage and its importance is
whether spill effects result in a downturn in breeding success, productivity, diversity
and the overall functioning of the system. Spills are not the only pressure on marine
habitats; chronic urban and industrial contamination or the exploitation of the
resources they provide are also serious threats.
Resilience and Sustainable Development
There is increasing awareness that a greater understanding and emphasis of
ecosystem resilience is required to reach the goal of sustainable development. A
similar conclusion is drawn by Perman ent al. who use resilience to describe one of 6
concepts of sustainability; "A sustainable state is one which satisfies minimum
conditions for ecosystem resilience through time". Resilience science has been
evolving over the past decade, expanding beyond ecology to reflect systems of
thinking in fields such as economics and political science. And, as more and more
people move into densely populated cities, using massive amounts of water, energy,
and other resources, the need to combine these disciplines to consider the resilience
of urban ecosystems and cities
is of paramount importance.
Academic Perspectives
The interdependence of
ecological and social systems
has gained renewed recognition
since the late 1990s by
academics including Berkes and
Folke and developed further in
2002 by Folke et al. as the
concept of sustainable
development has
evolved beyond the 3 pillars of
sustainable development to
place greater political emphasis
on economic development. This
is a movement which causes
wide concern in environmental
and social forums and which Clive Hamilton describes as "the growth fetish".

Climate change mitigation

Climate change mitigation consists of actions to limit the magnitude or rate of
long-term climate change. Climate change mitigation generally involves reductions in
human (anthropogenic) emissions of green house gases (GHGs). Mitigation may
also be achieved by increasing the capacity of carbon sinks, e.g.,
through reforestation. Mitigation policies can substantially reduce the risks
associated with human-induced global warming.

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 "Mitigation is a public good; climate change is a case of ‘the tragedy of the
commons’" Effective climate
change mitigation will not be
achieved if each agent (individual,
institution or country) acts
independently in its own selfish
interest, (See International
Cooperation and Emissions
Trading) suggesting the need for
collective action. Some adaptation
actions, on the other hand, have
characteristics of a private good as
benefits of actions may accrue
more directly to the individuals,
regions, or countries that undertake them, at least in the short term. Nevertheless,
financing such adaptive activities remains an issue, particularly for poor individuals
and countries.
Examples of mitigation include switching to low-carbon energy sources, such
as renewable and nuclear energy, and expanding forests and other "sinks" to
remove greater amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Energy
efficiency may also play a role, for example, through improving the insulation of
buildings. Another approach to climate change mitigation is climate engineering.
Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC). The ultimate objective of the UNFCCC is to stabilize
atmospheric concentrations of GHGs at a level that would prevent dangerous human
interference of the climate system. Scientific analysis can provide information on the
impacts of climate change, but deciding which impacts are dangerous requires value
judgments.

Climate Resilience vs. Climate Adaptation

The fact that climate resilience encompasses a dual function, to absorb shock
as well as to self-renew, is the primary means by which it can be differentiated from
the concept of climate adaptation. In general, adaptation is viewed as a group of
processes and actions that help a system absorb changes that have already
occurred, or may be predicted to occur in the future. For the specific case of
environmental change and climate adaptation, it is argued by many that adaptation
should be defined strictly as encompassing only active decision-making processes
and actions - in other words, deliberate changes made in response to climate
change. Of course, this characterization is highly debatable: after all, adaptation can
also be used to describe natural, involuntary processes by
which organisms, populations, ecosystems and perhaps even social-ecological
systems evolve after the application of certain external stresses. However, for the
purpose of differentiating climate adaptation and climate resilience from a
policymaking standpoint, we can contrast the active, actor-centric notion of
adaptation with resilience, which would be a more systems-based approach to
building social-ecological networks that are inherently capable of not only absorbing
change, but utilizing those changes to develop into more efficient configurations.

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 Inter-connectivity between Climate Resilience, Climate Change,
Adaptability, and Vulnerability
A conversation about climate resilience is incomplete without also
incorporating the concepts of adaptations, vulnerability, and climate change. If the
definition of resilience is the ability to recover from a negative event, in this case
climate change, then talking about preparations beforehand and strategies for
recovery (aka adaptations), as well as populations that are more less capable of
developing and implementing a resiliency strategy (aka vulnerable populations) are
essential. This is framed under the assumed detrimental impacts of climate change
to ecosystems and ecosystem services.

Climate Resilience in Practice

The building of climate resilience is a highly comprehensive undertaking that
involves an eclectic array of actors and agents: individuals, community
organizations, micro political bodies, corporations, governments at local, state, and
national levels as well as international organizations. In essence, actions that bolster
climate resilience are ones that will enhance the adaptive capacity of social,
industrial, and environmental infrastructures that can mitigate the effects of climate
change. Currently, research indicates that the strongest indicator of successful
climate resilience efforts at all scales is a well-developed, pre-existing network of
social, political, economic and financial institutions that is already positioned to
effectively take on the work of identifying and addressing the risks posed by climate
change. Cities, states, and nations that have already developed such networks are,
as expected, to generally have far higher net incomes and GDP.
Therefore it can be seen that embedded within the task of building climate
resilience at any scale will be the overcoming of macroscopic socioeconomic
inequities: in many ways, truly facilitating the construction of climate resilient
communities worldwide will require national and international agencies to address
issues of global poverty, industrial development, and food justice. However, this
does not mean that actions to improve climate resilience cannot be taken in real time
at all levels, although evidence suggests that the most climate resilient cities and
nations have accumulated this resilience through their responses to previous
weather-based disasters. Perhaps even more importantly, empirical evidence
suggests that the creation of the climate resilient structures is dependent upon an
array of social and environmental reforms that were only successfully passed due to
the presence of certain sociopolitical structures such as democracy, activist
movements, and decentralization of government.

Thus it can be seen that to build climate resilience one must work within a
network of related social and economic decisions that can have adverse effects on
the success of a resilience effort given the competing interests participating in the
discussion. Given this, it is clear that the social and economic scale play a vital role
in shaping the feasibility, costs, empirical success, and efficiency of climate
resilience initiatives. There is a wide variety of actions that can be pursued to
improve climate resilience at multiple scales – the following subsections we will
review a series of illustrative case studies and strategies from a broad diversity of
societal contexts that are currently being implemented to strengthen climate
resilience.

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Effects of Global Warming
The projected effects for the environment and for civilization are numerous
and varied. The main effect is an increasing global average temperature. The
average surface temperature could increase by 3 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit by the
end of the century if carbon emissions aren't reduced. This causes a variety of
secondary effects, namely, changes in patterns of precipitation, rising sea levels,
altered patterns of agriculture, increased extreme weather events, the expansion of
the range of tropical diseases, and the opening of new marine trade routes.
Potential effects include sea level rise of 110 to 770 mm (0.36 to 2.5
feet) between 1990 and 2100, repercussions to agriculture, possible slowing of the
thermo-haline circulation, reductions in the ozone layer, increased intensity and
frequency of extreme weather events, lowering of ocean pH, and the spread
of tropical diseases such as malaria and dengue fever.
A summary of probable effects and recent understanding can be found in the
report made for the IPCC Third Assessment Report by Working Group II. The 2007
contribution of Working Group II detailing the impacts of global warming for the IPCC
Fourth Assessment Report has been summarized for policymakers.
Adaptation is handicapped by uncertainty over the effects of global warming
on specific locations such as the Southwestern United States or phenomena such as
the Indian monsoon.

Types of Disasters
There is no country that is immune from disaster, though vulnerability to
disaster varies. There are four main types of disasters.
• Natural disasters: including floods, hurricanes, earthquakes and volcano
eruptions that have immediate impacts on human health and secondary
impacts causing further death and suffering from (for example) floods,
landslides, fires, tsunamis.

• Environmental emergencies: including technological or industrial accidents,

usually involving the production, use or transportation of hazardous material,
and occur where these materials are produced, used or transported, and
forest fires caused by humans.

• Complex emergencies: involving a break-down of authority, looting and

attacks on strategic installations, including conflict situations and war.

• Pandemic emergencies: involving a sudden onset of contagious disease

that affects health disrupts services and businesses, bring economic and
social costs.

Any disaster can interrupt essential services, such as health care, electricity,
water, sewage/garbage removal, transportation and communications. The
interruption can seriously affect the health, social and economic networks of local
communities and countries. Disasters have a major and long-lasting impact on

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people long after the immediate effect has been mitigated. Poorly planned relief
activities can have a significant negative impact not only on the disaster victims but
also on donors and relief agencies.
Hence, it is important that physical therapists join established programs rather
than attempting individual efforts. Local, regional, national and international
organizations are all involved in mounting a humanitarian response to disasters.
Each will have a prepared disaster management plan. These plans cover prevention,
preparedness, relief and recovery.

Biodiversity- what it is and why it’s

important

The United Nations declared 2010 to

be the International year of biodiversity.
This year we will celebrate life on earth and
the importance of biodiversity. It also
presents an occasion for us to think more
about biodiversity. What exactly is meant by
biodiversity? Why it is
so important? Biodiversity is best defined as
the variety of all living things. It covers
everything from genetic diversity through to
the mix of animals and plants that make up
an ecosystem Greater the variety of life,
more the biodiversity. Different species
within ecosystems fill particular roles, they
all have a function. They interact with each
other and the physical environment to
provide ecosystem services that are vital for
our survival. For example plant species convert carbon dioxide (CO2) from the
atmosphere and energy from the sun into useful things such as food, medicines and
timber.

“By protecting biodiversity we maintain ecosystem services”

Certain species play a “keystone” role in maintaining ecosystem services.
Similar to the removal of a keystone from an arch, the removal of these species can
result in the collapse of an ecosystem and the subsequent removal of ecosystem
services.
The most well known example of this occurred during the 19th century when
sea otters were almost hunted to extinction by fur traders along the west coast of the
USA. This led to a population explosion in the sea otters’ main source of prey, sea
urchins. Because the urchins graze on kelp their booming population decimated the
underwater kelp forests. This loss of habitat led to declines in local fish populations.

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 Global Biodiversity is the
variety of different types
of life found on Earth and the
variations within species. It is a
measure of the variety
of organisms present in
different ecosystems. This can
refer to genetic variation,
ecosystem variation,
or species variation (number of
species) within an area, biome,
or planet. Terrestrial biodiversity
tends to be highest near
the equator, which seems to be the result of the warm climate and high primary
productivity. Biodiversity is not distributed evenly on Earth. It is the richest in the
tropics. Marine biodiversity tends to be highest along coasts in the Western Pacific,
where sea surface temperature is highest and in the mid-latitudinal band in all
oceans. There are latitudinal gradients in species diversity. Biodiversity generally
tends to cluster in hotspots, and has been increasing through time but will be likely to
slow in the future.
The number and variety of plants, animals and other organisms that exist is
known as biodiversity. It is an
essential component of nature and
it ensures the survival of human
species by providing food, fuel,
shelter, medicines and other
resources to mankind. The
richness of biodiversity depends
on the climatic conditions and area
of the region. All species of plants
taken together are known as flora
and about 70,000 species of plants
are known till date. All species of animals taken together are known as fauna which
includes birds, mammals, fish, reptiles, insects, crustaceans, mollusks, etc.

Rapid environmental changes typically cause mass extinctions. More than 99

percent of all species, amounting to over five billion species that ever lived on Earth
are estimated to be extinct. Estimates on the number of Earth's
current species range from 10 million to 14 million, of which about 1.2 million have
been documented and over 86 percent have not yet been described. The total
amount of related DNA base pairs on Earth is estimated at 5.0 x 10, and weighs 50
billion tonnes. In comparison, the total mass of the biosphere has been estimated to
be as much as 4 TtC (trillion tons of carbon).

Biodiversity supports many ecosystem services

"There is now unequivocal evidence that biodiversity loss reduces the
efficiency by which ecological communities capture biologically essential resources,

125 
 
produce biomass, decompose and recycle biologically essential nutrients... There is
mounting evidence that biodiversity increases the stability of ecosystem functions
through time... Diverse communities are more productive because they contain key
species that have a large influence on productivity, and differences in functional traits
among organisms increase total resource capture... The impacts of diversity loss on
ecological processes might be sufficiently large to rival the impacts of many other
global drivers of environmental change... Maintaining multiple ecosystem processes
at multiple places and times requires higher levels of biodiversity than does a single
process at a single place and time."
Conservation biology matured in the mid-20th century
as ecologists, naturalists, and other scientists began to research and address issues
pertaining to global biodiversity declines. The conservation ethic advocates
management of natural resources for the purpose of sustaining biodiversity
in species, ecosystems, the evolutionary process, and human culture and society.
Conservation biology is reforming around strategic plans to protect biodiversity.
Preserving global biodiversity is a priority in strategic conservation plans that are
designed to engage public policy and concerns affecting local, regional and global
scales of communities, ecosystems, and cultures. Action plans identify ways of
sustaining human well-being, employing natural capital, market capital,
and ecosystem services. In the EU Directive 1999/22/EC zoos are described as
having a role in the preservation of the biodiversity of wildlife animals by conducting
research or participation in breeding programs.

Forest Reserves
The forests play a vital role in harboring more than 45,000 floral and 81,000
faunal species of which 5150 floral and
1837 faunal species are endemic. Plant
and animal species confined to a specific
geographical area are called endemic
species. In reserved forests, rights to
activities like hunting and grazing are
sometimes given to communities living
on the fringes of the forest, who sustain
their livelihood partially or wholly from
forest resources or products.

Zoological Park
In zoological parks or zoos, live animals are kept for public recreation,
education and conservation purposes. Modern zoos offer veterinary facilities, provide
opportunities for threatened species to breed in captivity and usually build
environments that stimulate the native habitats of the animals in their care. Zoos play
a major role in creating awareness among common people about the need to
conserve nature.
India’s Biodiversity Profile
• Floral and Faunal diversity India is its flora and fauna
• In terms of plant diversity, India ranks tenth in the world and fourth in Asia.

126 
 
 • With over 49,000 plant species, India represents nearly 12% of the world’s
known floral diversity.
• The richness of Indian species is shown in Table

Richness of Plant Diversity in India

Estimated total plant species 49,000 (12%)
Endemic species (47 Families) 5725
Floweing Plant species 18000
Species of medicinal species 7000
Domisticated species (food, feed, fiber) 966
Cultivated crops species 583
Wild edible plant species 1500
Major and minor crop species 25
Wild relatives of crop species 334
Exotic Species Several

Richness of Animal Diversity in India

Estimated total Species 90,000
Insect Species 68,000
Nematode Species 5,189
Domesticated Animal breeds 255
Fish Species (fresh water / 2,246
Brakish water / marine)

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Domesticated Biodiversity
Crop Genetic diversity: Agriculture remains one of the dominant drivers and
mainstay of economic growth in India. The large mosaic of distinct agro eco systems,
characterised by variations in edaphic, climatic and Geographic features has
contributed to diverse cropping patterns and systems across the country. India is one
of the eight Vavilov’s centres of origin of cultivated plants in the world. India stands
seventh in the world in terms of contribution of species to agriculture and animal
husbandry.
Animal Genetic Resources (255 Breeds)
Cattle 64 *(7.75%)
Buffalo 23 *(26.5%)
Sheep 63
Goat 34 *(8.6%)
Others 72
*figures in parenthesis denote % global wealth
Diversity in Plant species of Agronomic Value
Cereals 1,123,278
Millets & Farages 40,488
Pseudo Cereals 3,496
Grain Legumes 40,604
Oilseed crops 33,170
Fibre crops 8,387
Vegetables 15,671
Fruits 172
Medicinal & Aromatic 1,551
Plants

The City Resilience Framework

Developed by Arup with support from the Rockefeller Foundation, The City
Resilience Framework (CRF) provides a lens to understand the complexity of cities
and the
drivers that contribute to their resilience, and a common language that enables cities
to share knowledge and experiences.

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 • The CRF is built on four essential dimensions of urban resilience: Health &
Wellbeing; Economy & Society; Infrastructure & Environment; and Leadership
& Strategy.
• Each dimension contains three “drivers,” which reflect the actions cities can
take to improve their resilience.

Exploring the City Resilience Frame work

• To learn more about a Dimension and its three Drivers, click on part of the
circle.
• Leadership and Strategy
• The way in which man-made and
natural infrastructure provide
critical services and protects
urban citizens.
• Health and Wellbeing
• The health and wellbeing of
everyone living and working in the
city.
• Infrastructure and Environment
• Effective leadership, empowered stakeholders, and integrated planning.
• Economy and Society
• The social and financial systems that enable urban populations to live
peacefully, and act collectively.

Enhancing Resilient Cities…

Improving the individual systems
that make up a city will increase the
resilience of the city overall. Resilient
systems withstand, respond to, and
adapt more readily to shocks and
stresses to emerge stronger after
tough times, and live better in good
times.

Environmental Sustainability Practices in Vizag

Based on the principles, law and practice of environmental sustainability
discussed in the preceding paras, the local Government of Visakhapatnam has been
actively implementing several environmental sustainability practices for the past one
decade. The city Government-GVMC has been recognized and rewarded for the
practices followed by several national and International urban institutions of
research. A host of these sustainability practices have taken the city of

129 
 
Visakhapatnam in the international urban map by inviting its participation in the
World Urban Economic Forum-6 Held in Naples, Italy during The Year 2012.

Building Green Vizag

The local Government of Visakhapatnam city has been actively implementing
the Green Urban Economy practices in the city for the past several years in order to
improve the Urban resilience. Under this concept, the district authorities of
Visakhapatnam Smart City has taken up the “Green Visakha Program” in which a
massive program of planting 40 lakhs (4 million) trees during a period of eight years
during the period 2011-2019 has been taken up. The project has been commenced
under the guidelines of Indian Parliamentary committee and around 6.5 lakhs plants
have already been placed during the years 2014 and 2015. However, the
devastation created by the Hud Hud cyclone damaged almost the entire greenery of
the city of Visakhapatnam.
Under the “Green Visakha Program”, which involves various public sector
and private sector organizations along with the district authorities, has been
activated its momentum after Hud Hud cyclone with the leadership of the Chief
Minister of Andhra Pradesh. A massive tree plantation program has been
commenced involving various NGOs and all the sections of the citizens in the city for
improving the urban resilience. An additional plantation of around seventy thousand
plantations besides a technical process of copper oxychloride application for the
semi damaged trees was taken up subsequent to the calamity.
Strengths of the City of Vizag
• Well connected city – Rlys, Water ways, Air ways & High way.
• Public are soft, Co-operative & Law binding.
• Richness of Land.
• Sufficient drinking water allocation (Raiwada & Yeleru).
• Long & Clean Sea-coast - Beach based tourism.
• Industrial Hub – With employment potential.
• Education Hub
• Tourism Hub – With both Heritage & Pilgrimage tourism.
• Eco-friendly locations like Mudasarlova, Kailasagiri, etc.
• City with good Green coverage with Hills - 42%.
• Good Infrastructure – Roads, Drains & Basic amenities.
• Capacity of the Institution (ULB) to take up projects – Already taken up
projects worth of Rs.1900.00 Cr. under JNNURM & 75% completed.
• Mobility improvement with BRTS, Flyover, Sub-way and other Road
improvements in the extended area.
• Project exposure in different sectors like UGD, Housing, Solid Waste
Management, Storm Water, etc.

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 • Environmental initiatives with Vehicle free zones, Hawker zones, Bi-cycle
lanes, Free lefts, etc.
• LCMP initiative with UNEP and
ICLEI support.
• CITY URBAN CHALLENGES
• Rapid Rate of Increase in
Urbanization
• Provision of Infrastructure facilities
in Accordance with the
• Increased Growth of Urbanization
• Effective City Planning in
Accordance with the Increased
• Special Growth
• Qualitative Service Delivery in the areas of Public Health, Sanitation, Water
Supply, etc.
• Resource Mobilization to meet the Service and Infrastructural Demands
• Environmental Sustainability through LCMP and Renewable Technologies
• Institutional and Capacity Building

Challenges
• Increased Pollution
• Despite its potentials,
Visakhapatnam City is declared as
the 7th pollutant city in the Country.
• Pollution is more due to Port
Trust, Steel Plant, Petroleum
Refinery, Pharma City, etc.
• Traffic Congestion and more
usage of Private modes of transport
are also contributing to the pollution.
• Minimum usage of Bi-cycles and
increasing number of two wheelers causing the pollution further.

GVMC Initiatives for Pollution Reduction

• Energy Efficiency in Buildings, Street lighting,
• Water Pumping stations
• Solid Waste Management
• Transportation - BRTS and Fleet Management through SPVs
• Sewerage Treatment Plants
• Renewable Energy Technologies
• Low Carbon Mobility Plans
• Slum clearance and Housing for Urban Poor under
• Storm Water Drainage System
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 • Under Ground Drainage System
• GHG Reduction through Local Action
• Plantation
• Green Enforcement
• Hawkers Zones
• Vehicle Free Zones and Vehicle Free Days
• CRZ Norms
• Replacement of Existing Conventional Street Lighting with LED Lighting
• CDP Revision with Environmentally Sustainable Approach

Low Carbon Mobility Strategies

• Cycling Tracks
• Cycling Zones
• Cycling Clubs
• BRTS under JNNURM
• Transportation through SPVs
under JNNURM
• Hawkers Zones
• Cycling Tracks In
Visakhapatnam
• LCMP INITIATIVES OF GVMC
• Vehicle Free Zones (VFZ) facilitating physical exercise activities to the
citizens at specific timings- 5am to 7.30 am
• Providing bicycles for the citizens for cycling at Vehicle Free Zones (VFZ)
• Introduced Non-pollution Day concept in GVMC by the Employees reaching
Offices without using motor vehicles, on every Monday

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 • Conducting Seminars and Workshops on implementation of Low Carbon
Mobility Plan in the City,
involving various Stakeholders
with the support of ICLEI and
UNEP.
• Support for VFZ concept by
various Educational Institutions
and industries in the city.
• Support from NGOs, Press and
Electronic Media.
• Introduction of Cycling clubs
involving various NGOs at ward
level in the city.

Disaster Management Project

Climate Risk Management In Urban areas Through Disaster Preparedness
And Mitigation is a joint mission project of Government of India and UNDP, which is
under active progress during which period the present Hud Hud cyclone is
experienced by the city of Visakhapatnam.

The GOI-UNDP DRR programme is envisaged to support Central and State

Government programmes and initiatives
by providing critical inputs that would
enhance the efficiency and
effectiveness of the efforts in Disaster
Risk Reduction. The programme strives
to strengthen the institutional structure
to undertake Disaster Risk Reduction
activities at various levels including risks
being enhanced due to climate change
and develop preparedness for recovery.
The GOI-UNDP Climate Risk
Management in Urban Areas through Disaster Preparedness and Mitigation projects
objectives are to:

• Reduce disaster risk in urban areas by enhancing institutional capacities to

integrate climate risk reduction measures in development programs as well as
to undertake mitigation activities based on scientific analysis; and
• Enhance community capacities to manage climate risk in urban areas by
enhancing the preparedness.

Under the project, specific activities are currently underway to attain key results such
as:
• City Disaster Management Plans,
• Hazard Risk and Vulnerability Analysis,
• Training of communities to respond to disasters,
• Action plans to strengthen Early Warning systems based on analytical
studies,

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 • Sectoral plans with key focus on mainstreaming of disaster risk reduction and
climate change adaptation in development programs and
• Knowledge management.

This project has recently become a part of the newly approved GOI-UNDP
Programme on Strengthening Institutional and Community Resilience to Disasters
and Climate Change (2013-2017).

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is designated as implementing partner

with the Joint Secretary (DM), MHA as National Project Director (NPD) for overall
management of the project. UNDP is required to provide implementation support to
the project.

Vizag City Sustainability Review-VCSR

The VCSR project has been undertaken by the Swedish Government during
2008-2010 on the following areas:
• Waste Management (Domestic, Hazardous and industrial)
• Water and Sanitation
• Traffic and Transport
• Air Pollution
• Coastal Development, Risk and Climate Change Issues
• Governance

Joint Collaboration between GVMC and Sweden

Sweden and Vishakapatnam have been in discussion since 2006 on issues of
sustainable cities and urban development. This discussion started with the SIPU
International assignment to review the cities 2006 CDP and make recommendations
for future sustainability. SIPU’s recommendations and Vishakapatnam’s continued
interest in working with Sweden to deploy projects has resulted in the decision of
Sweden, as represented by the Swedish Energy Agency, to take forward discussions
of partnerships and projects in the field of waste to energy.
Based on the final outcome of recommendations in VCSR and the support
sought by GVMC, the Counsellor, Embassy of Sweden initially approached GVMC
during October 2010, to extend long term and short term collaboration / partnership
to GVMC on Waste to Energy Project in the City of Visakhapatnam.
` The other important sustainability environmental projects that have been
successfully handled by the local Government during recent years are:
• Municipal Street Lighting Project
• Municipal Water Supply Project
• Building EE
• 100% replacement of all tube lights in the corporation buildings with
CFLs
• 100% replacement of existing CFLs in the main office wit
• Proposed energy equipment like automatic timers, sensors of energy
now consumed in GVMC
• Residential EE Project
• Renewable Energy

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 • Climate change adaptation strategies
• climate mitigation strategies

Cycling Tracks
As a part of Environmental
Management to avoid Pollution Control
and to improve health conditions of the
citizens, the Commissioner, GVMC
introduced a ‘innovative programme’
i.e., “Establishing Cycling Zones
(Tracks)” in Visakhapatnam on 01-11-
2011. A road length of 2.50 Kms. in
beach road is declared as ‘Cycle Zone’
during morning hours from 5-30 a.m. to
7-30 a.m. During this period ‘No Motor
vehicles’ will be allowed. A second
Zone of 1.50 Kms. of length at
Rednam Gardens is also earmarked as Cycling Zone from 27-11-2011 onwards.
To encourage Cyclists and Morning walkers the GVMC introduced the above
programme and to create awareness among the citizens of Visakhapatnam
regarding environmental management and pollution control.

No Vehicle Zone
Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation introduced a new programme
i.e., ‘No Vehicle Zones’ for the convenience of Visakhapatnam citizens and to bring
awareness and motivate public for Walking.
Three (3) areas are declared as ‘No Vehicle Zone’ in the morning hours from
5-30 a.m. to 8-30 a.m. No Motor Vehicles will be allowed during these hours. The
Cyclists can move freely without any danger from Motor Vehicles. This not only
improves the environment but also Health.
Other Environmental Sustainability Initiatives
ƒ Visakhapatnam is declared as one of the Pollutant cities due to
industrialization , Port etc
ƒ GVMC as a part of reducing pollution developed four “vehicle free zones” of
about 20 kms. No vehicles will be allowed except pedestrians/ cycles.
ƒ Cycling zones were created at four areas in the city.
ƒ Encouraged usage of Public transport by GVMC staff for one day in the week,
i.e., on Monday.
ƒ Given up official vehicles by GVMC staff for one day.
ƒ Prohibited usage of polythene carry bags below 40 microns
ƒ Mass plantation of 5 lakh trees in GVMC area in coming two years.
ƒ Low Carbon Mobility plan with assistance from UNEP taken up to reduce
carbon emission in the mobility.

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GVMC Cycling Club
ƒ GVMC Cycling club is a non- profit organization managed by the
members.
ƒ To create Health, recreation, avoid non motorized vehicles to aware on
environment fuel reduction, etc. by promoting cycling by all ages.
ƒ Provide daily, weekend, Monthly programs by involving all ages
irrespective of gender. Get together, dinners, picnics, breakfasts, etc.
ƒ To enrich friendship, increase of friends to provide E mails, SMS,
Mobile Numbers for sharing of views.
ƒ We can arrange evening cycling on Saturdays, apart from mornings
and long rides on Sundays and other public holidays by increased
resources of riding partners like SHGS, Voluntary organizations, Public
& Private sectors, school, college students etc.

The Smart City New Projects under Pipeline

The State Government has commenced the following new mega projects in
the Smart City of Visakhapatnam, which have commenced and the draft projects
reports are also finalized. These important projects have been approved by the
Government of India and also the World Bank.

Converting existing overhead Power Distribution System to Underground

Cabling System by APEPDCL
The underground cabling system in place of the overhead power distribution
has been proposed and installation is finalized on account of the huge devastation to
the power network system in the city of Visakhapatnam.

136 
 
Project details
• The World Bank agreed to finance US$ 250 million (Rs.15 Crs.) for the
APDRP vide Credit No.56940-IN dt.22-06-2015. This covers five main
components and will be executed by six Govt. departments i.e.
APEPDCL, GVMC, VUDA, Panchayat Raj, R&B and Forest
Department.
• Revenue (Disaster Management) Department, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh
will be the Project Management Unit (PMU) for the entire Project.
• An amount of US$ 120 million (Rs.720 Crs.) was allocated for
Component-1 (Resilient Electrical Network) and Eastern Power
Distribution Company of A.P Ltd., will be the Project Implementing
Agency (PIU).
• Procurement plan of APEPDCL was approved by World Bank on
31.07.2015.
• APEPDCL is the first department to get their Procurement Plan
approved by World Bank.
• Pilot Technical DPR for 33/11 KV MVP Sub-Station was approved by
World Bank. The total cost estimate of the Pilot Area covering MVP
Substation is Rs. 55 Crores.
• Selection of Environmental consulting firm was initiated as per World
Bank guidelines. Normally it will take nearly 3 months to finalized
selection process. APEPDCL is adhering to the approved time schedule
and it will be finalized by end of October, 2015.
• The environmental
consulting firm has to
study the entire
project area which
will take at least 5
months and has to
submit their
Environmental &
Social Impact
Assessment Report
to APEPDCL. This
ESIA report is
essential to approve
the total DPR of UG Cable Project by the World Bank.
• Within the World Bank approved allocation of US$ 120 Million
(Rs.720 Crs. Approx.), it is planned to cover 21 Nos. 33/11 KV Sub-
Stations in Visakhapatnam city starting from sea coast and going
towards land side.
• As per the World Bank approved time lines, the works are expected to
be commenced by May, 2016.
• APEPDCL is adhering to approved time schedule of World Bank.
• As per World Bank approved time lines, Project implementation start
date is 17-Jun-2015 and Project implementation end date 30-Sep-2020.
• APEPDCL is planning to complete the UG Cabling Project works by the
year 2018.

137 
 
Vizag Metro Transport System
The mega project of Vizag Metro transport system in the Smart City of
Visakhapatnam has been taken up by the Government of Andhra Pradesh with
support of the Government of India, and it is a major project of public transportation
system in the central city of Visakhapatnam.

Metro Proposals:
• Govt. of A.P. in Sept’2014 have appointed Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC),
Delhi as the consultants for preparation of Detailed Project Report (DPR) for
Vizag Metro and Dr.E.Sreedharan as the Principal Advisor for the Metro.
• The Principal Advisor has visited the city Nov’2014, Jan’2015 and also in
May’2015 along with Director (Business Development) and other officials of
DMRC.
• Government of Andhra Pradesh in January 2015 approved the following 3
corridors of 39km for preparing Detailed Project Report (DPR) duly conducting
relevant studies by DMRC.

Madhurawada to NAD Jn on NH16 (Old NH5) and to Gajuwaka 30 Km

Thatichatlapalem jn to East point rest house via
08 Km
Rly station ,Asilmetta, siripuram, A.U out gate
Guruwadara Junction to East Point Rest House via Raily Station,
07 Km
Asilmetta, Siripuram and A.U., Out Gate

• Car Depot proposed at Hanumathawaka Junction in an extent of 40 Acres

abutting NH.

138 
 
Status
After conducting all relevant studies like Traffic, Geo-investigation,
Topographical Surveys, Environmental Studies etc., the DMRC has submitted the
draft Detailed Project Report of Visakhapatnam Metro to the Government in the 2nd
week of Aug’2015 and the details in brief are as follows:

S.No. Corridors Total (km)

Gajuwaka Junction to Kommadi Junction 30.381
(Madhurawada)
1 (via NAD Jn., Gurudwara, Maddilapalem and
Hanumanthawaka along NH-16 (old NH-5))
Gurudwara to Old Post Office 5.255
2 (via Dabagardens, Suryabagh, Police barracks,
Purna Market)
Thatichetlapalem to China Waltair (East Point 6.914
Guest house)
3
(via Railway station, RTC Complex, Sampath Vinayak
temple, Siripuram, AU out gate)

Total 42.550

• The Capital cost for 42.550 Kms. is worked out to Rs 12,800 cr

(app) with all taxes, land cost etc
• The Project completion period is taken as 4 years (48 months) i.e.,
by Dec’2019.
• 41 stations are proposed in the 3 corridors
• The cost of the project includes Civil, Electrical, Signaling, Tele
Communication, Rolling Stock, land etc. at Mar’2015 price.
• The entire Corridor is elevated, which is proposed in the Centre of
the Road.
• The Car depot for all 3 Corridors is proposed at Hanumanthwaka.
• The minimum fare proposed is Rs.10/- is up to 5.00 Km., Rs.20/-
between 5 Km. to 10 Km. and Rs.30/- beyond 10 Km.(in 2019-20).
• It is proposed that the project will be executed on SPV model with
equities of Govt. of India and Govt. of A.P. and loan from JICA and
the cost of land will be met by GoAP (100%).

139 
 
LED Street Lighting Project
The Local Government of Smart city of Visakhapatnam, immediately after the
devastation of the entire street lighting system in the city, replaced the entire street
lighting system of sodium vapour lights with LED lighting systems. The salient
features of the project are:

• To replace all existing conventional lamps by LED to improve illumination.

• To achieve Energy Savings by Utilizing lower wattage of LED fixtures in
place of conventional fixtures
• Iimplementation of energy efficiency measures in streetlight in the
jurisdiction of GVMC.
• There will be no upfront
capital cost for
implementation of the
project by GVMC.
• The repayment to EESL
in the form of annuity
within the overall
expenditure being
currently incurred by
GVMC on energy
consumption and maintenance charges
• EESL shall replace the existing conventional fixtures and supply and install
LED Fixtures with all accessories including safety and mounting
arrangements with proper earthing to match the existing light output.
• EESL shall extend warranty of the LED fixtures supplied throughout the
agreement period (i.e. 7 years) covering any manufacturing defects, high
voltage and storage.

140 
 
Sodium Vapor Lights Replaced

Sl No. Conventional Wattage Nos

1 40 W Tube lights 59780
2 70 W SV Lamps 4284
3 150 W SV Lamps 17326
4 250 W SV Lamps 10371
5 400 W SV Lamps 14
TOTAL: 91775

LED Lights Installed in the City

Sl No. LED Wattage Nos

1 20W LED 59780
2 40W LED 4078
3 70/82 W LED 19138
4 120/150/160W LED 9851
5 210W LED 104
Total 92951

141 
 
Comparative statement of electricity consumption after LED Installation

Sodium vapor
LED lights
lights
Units
Units in
Month Month in
lakhs
lakhs
Jan-14 23.80 Jan-15 12.70
Feb- 23.89 Feb-15 12.72
14
Mar- 17.08 Mar-15 11.85
14
Apr-14 19.60 Apr-15 12.34
May- 18.01 May- 10.92
14 15
Jun-14 17.22 Jun-15 10.79
Jul-14 16.80 Jul-15 10.09
136.40 81.41

Results
• Improvement in quality of illumination of city roads / streets.
• Better monitoring of functions of street lighting by Centrally Controlled
Monitoring System (CCMS).
• Able to maintain standard LUX levels.

Other Environmental sustainability Projects

The other environmental sustainability projects handled by the local
Government and certain recommendations implemented have given results of
improvement of Urban resilience in the city.

Climate change adaptation project

ICLEI–Local Governments for Sustainability is an international association of
local governments as well as national and regional local government organizations
which have a commitment for sustainable development. ICLEI-South Asia, the South
Asian chapter of ICLEI Local Governments for sustainability, works with local
governments and cities on issues like environmental Sustainability, energy and
climate change and helps them achieve sustainable development. The ICLEI has
been working with more than 40 Indian cities, on various issues through various
projects and campaigns.
ICLEI South Asian, with the support from the Federal Ministry for the
Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), Berlin has recently
started the project on “Impact of Climate Change Adaptation Strategies” in
various Indian cities. Indian Institute of technology (IIT) Delhi, is the partner under
this project. The project aims at increasing the awareness, knowledge and capacity

142 
 
of the local Governments of India and Philippines. To this end, scientists, ICLEI and
four cities each in both countries will be working together to localize the impacts of
climate change and to develop future scenarios and decision making aids in order to
reduce the risks of climate change impacts.
The goal of the project is to reduce the risks of the climate change impacts
faced by the cities in the target countries through an integrated and cyclic
management approach, thereby increasing their local economic and social
resilience. It further aims to better manage the impacts of climate change about
potential risks at local level; and to promote the exchange of knowledge between
cities in the target countries. With the support of the participating partners, each of
the cities will develop its own local indicators for climate change adaptation.
The city of Visakhapatnam has been identified as one of the Indian cities
among four other cities – Kolkatta, Cochin and Madhurai for implementation of the
project. The project would serve as a basis in order to develop local government
strategies for the adaptation to climate change.
Project Goal

The project has been designed to achieve the following goals:

• Reduce the risks of climate change impacts faced by cities in
the target countries through an integrated and cyclical
management approach
• Effective Management of impacts of climate change;
• Strengthen the awareness and the knowledge about
potential risks at local level; and
• Promote the exchange of knowledge between cities in the
target countries.
The project has been successfully completed the duration period of three
years from the period 2011-2013 and all the recommendations of climate change
adaptation strategies are under successful implementation.

Urban Volunteers Training (UVT) under UNDP-GoI project on Climate Risk

Management in Urban Areas through Preparedness and Mitigation
Coming to the details of the training program, for the convenient of the
participants the urban volunteers training programs were conducted at respective
wards or very near to their place. A set of training materials were provided to
participants containing printed resource material in local language The training
material was having seven chapters and annexure. First three chapters covered
introduction and information related to city vulnerability profile. Fourth chapter
explained in detail related to various disasters viz., cyclones, floods, earthquakes,
tsunami, land slide, hot waves, epidemics, fire accidents, currents and thunders.
Fifth chapter explained matters related to preparedness. Sixth chapter is on climate
change, in which there is detailed explanation on reasons of climate changes, its
impact, adaptation, risk reduction, coping strategies etc. Seventh chapter is on
community based disaster risk reduction. In annexure search & rescue operations
and first aid were explained in figures. In search & rescue operations topics covered
on team management, rescue equipments, shelter management, lifting the injured
persons etc. at the times of cyclonic incidents, floods, earthquakes, fire hazards etc.

143 
 
In first aid topics covered are unconsciousness, respiratory problems, heart
problems, current shocks, burns, food poisoning, bites by various animals, fevers,
digestion problems, vomiting, breakage of bones, wounds, hot waves, irritations of
sensory organs, trauma etc. The same topics which are covered in resource material
and also local specific issues were explained to participants by trainers.
The participants involved in the urban volunteers training program were from
various educational backgrounds from higher education to some illiterates, various
financial backgrounds and various professions including unemployed youth. Special
care was taken by trainers during training program while explaining the topics to
participants of various backgrounds. Some topics were separately explained to
various groups based on their background and interests on specific topics. The
participants acquired knowledge/skills on the training topics related to climate
change, disasters, CBDRM, search & rescue operations and first aid. During the
training programs it was observed that women were shown more interest to acquire
knowledge on the topics related to climate change, disasters and first aid.
Visakhapatnam being a coastal and industrial city, it has rich experiences with
natural hazards like cyclones, tsunami, erosions, hot waves and industrial accidents
as manmade disasters. In this year 2014, Visakhapatnam experienced ground
vibrations due to an earthquake incident in May, extreme ambient temperatures due
to hot wave incidents during June month and recently on 12th October a super
cyclone called ‘Hud Hud’. People in the city are aware of various disasters which
were happened in India and at other places from last few years.

144 
 
 Impact of Hud Hud Cyclone

One year after Hud Hud Cyclone

145 
 
 Impact of Hud Hud Cyclone

One year after Hud Hud Cyclone

146 
 
 Impact of Hud Hud Cyclone

One year after Hud Hud Cyclone

147 
 
 Impact of Hud Hud Cyclone

One year after Hud Hud Cyclone

148 
 
 149 
 
 Impact of Hud Hud Cyclone

One year after Hud Hud Cyclone

150 
 
 Impact of Hud Hud Cyclone

One year after Hud Hud Cyclone

151 
 
 10. Observations

A detailed review and analysis of attaining the eligibility for support of

Smart City Reforms and achieving the higher ranks in the ‘Smart City
Challenge’ by Visakhapatnam city is taken up with the SWOT analysis. The
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of Visakhapatnam have
been measured in terms of quantitative and qualitative analysis and the
following observations are made. These observations are useful for future
guidance and for achieving the smart city objectives in accordance with the
expectations and standards fixed by the Govt. of India.

Strengths
• The increasing growth of urban agglomeration, vast land area
having around 46 percent of green area, more than 150 Kms long
sea coast with picturesque of green hills is the major strength of
Visakhapatnam for development as Smart city.
• The scope for land use for the targeted urban development with
necessary inbuilt urban resilience of the city is another important
factor in facing the regular environmental threats such as massive
cyclones and floods.
• The local government is able to handle the smart city challenges
with improved urban governance and support from the State and
Central Governments.
• The improved employee performance and commitment levels
together with necessary citizen participation and involvement are
other major strengths in achieving the support for smart city
development.

Weaknesses
• The major weakness of Visakhapatnam is the geographical location
of the city besides a rough Bay of Bengal sea prone to natural
disasters of cyclones with high speed gales every monsoon season
leaving huge devastation in the city and surrounding areas.
• Absence of Inter and intra departmental coordination and
cooperation in handling the smart city challenges after grounding
the projects including efforts for coordination with global
supporting agencies such as USTDA, UNDP, World Bank ADB, etc.
• The existing system of generation of revenues in accordance with
the annual budget estimates of capital and revenue expenditure is
to be redefined.
• Lack of financial accountability and absence of regular policy
making due to long gaps of elected city council is another setback
in launching the developmental projects and completion of the
projects.

152 
 
 Opportunities
• Visakhapatnam city has a great opportunity for smart city
development by virtue of the prevailing situation of socio-economic
conditions and its geographical location having a long sea coast
with high resilient vast urban area.
• A major urban development has already been taken place with
grounding of various developmental projects in the urban
rejuvenation mission earlier, which is providing a major opportunity
for smart city development through retrofit approach.
• The inbuilt urban resilience is providing an opportunity to face the
major threats and shocks of natural disasters.
• The city has a regular opportunity of availing support and
cooperation of the citizens, besides the administrative, technical
and financial support extended by the national and international
agencies in times of exigencies.

Threats
• A major threat for the city is always a continuous risk of natural
disasters, and absence of continuity in grounding the urban
resilience projects on account of frequent administrative changes
and discontinuation of capacity building activities.
• The other major threat is insufficient revenue generation to meet the
cost of smart city development projects associated with absence of
inter-departmental coordination and coordination with supporting
global agencies, USTDA in particular, due to discontinuation of
capacity building activities.
• Increased corruption as reported in the local press from time to
time. This may be due to diminishing accountability levels of the
part of employees in the absence of regular training programs and
inter department meets.
• Inadequate citizen response and participation for successful
grounding of smart city projects on account of absence of effective
system of coordination with citizen voluntary groups.

153 
 
Observations
From the discussions in the preceding paras, it would be evident that there is
a positive relation between urban resilience and the recovery of eco system, and the
following conclusions can be derived supporting the hypothesis. The following
physical results are clearly visible in the proposed Smart City of Visakhapatnam
within a short period one year of experiencing the severe tropical cyclone of Hud
Hud:

• The greenery of the city is almost regained with the green urban economy
action plan implementation by the state authorities under the leadership of the
Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.
• The local government action of the Smart City administration has been
improved in respect of implementation of citizen services and environmental
sustainability approaches.
• The government of Andhra Pradesh played a crucial role of paying specific
attention towards the recovery process in the city of Visakhapatnam.
• Several sustainable urban development initiatives have been commenced for
developing the Smart City with various programs.
• The response for action plan gained momentum in launching the mega
projects such as Metro rail, underground cabling, and LED street lighting etc.,
in the city of Visakhapatnam.
• The commitment levels of various sections of the society, such as NGOs,
student communities and other institutions have been increased in rebuilding
the Vizag city.
• The Green Visakha Program of the Government of India gained a momentum
with the severe calamity of Hud Hud, which contributed for improving the
urban resilience of the city.
• The transport and traffic system is scientifically developed with revised
designing of traffic lines, bus shelters, signaling systems etc., for an improved
system of traffic control.
• The proposed Smart City of Visakhapatnam is giving a new and rich look after
revival from the Hud Hud cyclone calamity within a short period of one year.

154 
 
 5. CITIZEN PARTICIPATION
AND
CAPACITY BUILDING

“Smart cities are not created with the wave of a magic

wand but take a shape through citizen participation and
their preparedness for reforms. Citizen Participation
and smart leadership result in smart cities.”
- M. Venkaiah Naidu, Minister for Urban
Development, Govt. of India

Cities accommodate nearly 31% of India's current population and contribute

63% of GDP (Census 2011). Urban areas are expected to house 40% of India's
population and contribute 75% of India's GDP by 2030. This requires
comprehensive development of physical, institutional, social and economic
infrastructure. All are important in improving the quality of life and attracting people
and investment, setting in motion a virtuous cycle of growth and development.
Development of Smart Cities is a step in that direction.
Smart Cities focus on their most pressing needs and on the greatest
opportunities to improve lives. They tap a range of approaches - digital and
information technologies, urban planning best practices, public-private
partnerships, and policy change - to make a difference. They always put people
first.
In the approach to the Smart Cities Mission, the objective is to promote cities
that provide core infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to its citizens, a
clean and sustainable environment and application of 'Smart' Solutions. The focus
is on sustainable and inclusive development and the idea is to look at compact
areas, create a replicable model which will act like a light house to other aspiring

153 

 
cities. The Smart Cities Mission is meant to set examples that can be replicated
both within and outside the Smart City, catalyzing the creation of similar Smart
Cities in various regions and parts of the country.
Smart Cities Mission Strategy
Pan-city initiative in which at least one Smart Solution is applied city-wide
develop areas step-by-step – three models of area-based developments
• Retrofitting,
• Redevelopment,
• Greenfield
The Core Infrastructure Elements
• Adequate water supply,
• Assured electricity supply,
• Sanitation, including solid waste management,
• Efficient urban mobility and public transport,
Affordable housing, especially for the poor,
• Robust IT connectivity and digitalization,
• Good governance, especially e-Governance and citizen participation,
• Sustainable environment,
• Safety and security of citizens, particularly women, children and the elderly, and
• Health and education.
The Smart Cities Mission is an innovative and new initiative by the
Government of India to drive economic growth and improve the quality of life of
people by enabling local development and harnessing technology as a means to
create smart outcomes for citizens. India faces a wide range of urban challenges—
from serious air pollution and poor local governance, to badly planned cities and a
lack of decent housing. India’s Smart Cities Challenge, which has now selected 98
of the 100 cities that will receive funding, could go a long way in addressing these
issues.
According to Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, there are five key
instruments that make a “smart” city: the use of clean technologies, the use of
Information Communications and Technology (ICT) private sector involvement,
citizen participation and smart governance. There are good examples of new
practices for each of these pillars.
For example, the city of Viskhapatnam recently launched a program to
replace streetlights with energy efficient LEDs. The Digital India program is
designed to upgrade the country’s IT infrastructure and includes plans to build
“broadband highways” across the country. As for private sector participation, the
Indian government is trying to encourage it by listing sectors and opportunities
for public-private partnerships.
Citizen participation is one of Modi’s five key instruments, but this is an area
where smart city pilots around the world have tended to perform least well on.
While people are the implied beneficiaries of programs that aim to improve
efficiency and reduce waste, they are rarely given a chance to participate in the
design or delivery of smart city projects, which are usually implemented and
managed by experts who have only a vague idea of the challenges that local
communities face.

154 

 
Citizen Participation
Engaging citizens is especially important in an Indian context because there
have already been several striking examples of failed urban redevelopments that
have blatantly lacked any type of community consultation or participation.
Anticipating some of these criticisms, Union Minister of Urban Development
Venkaiah Naidu recently stressed the need for every candidate Smart City plan to
reflect citizens’ aspirations and be built in consultation with local communities.

A NEW APPROACH

How can Indian cities engage residents in their smart city projects?
There are many tools available to policymakers—from traditional community
engagement activities such as community meetings, to websites
like www.mygov.in that ask for feedback on policies. Now, there are a number of
reasons to think smart phones could be an important tool to help improve
collaboration between residents and city governments in Indian cities.
In Bangalore, an initiative by the MOD Institute, a local nongovernmental
organization, enabled residents to come together, online and offline, to create a
community vision for the redevelopment of Shanthinagar, a neighborhood of the
city. The project, “Next Bengaluru”, used new technologies to engage local
residents in urban planning and tap into their knowledge of the area to promote
a vision matching their real needs. The initiative was very successful. In just three
months, between December 2014 and March 2015, over 1,200 neighbors and
residents visited the on-site community space, and the team crowd sourced more
than 600 ideas for redevelopment and planning both on-site and through the Next
Bangalore website.
The MOD Institute now intends to work with local urban planners to try get
these ideas adopted by the city government. The project has also developed a pilot
app that will enable people to map abandoned urban spaces via smart phone and
messaging service in the future.

The Technology Approach

First of all, municipal governments across India need to make sure
traditional channels for participation (public consultations, forums) are in place and
ensure citizens are consistently informed of what is happening in their
neighborhood and are given the opportunity to have a say in it. This needs to
happen before local governments even start daydreaming about the novelty smart
phones could bring. City officials could also start thinking about combining online
and offline citizen engagement tools, such as what Next Bangalorehas been doing,
to enhance citizen engagement, ensuring the inclusivity of the process while
modernizing it and improving its reach.
Additionally, municipalities, in their effort to develop a smart city vision, must
build on the unique advantages of Indian cities and the great work that citizens,
community groups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) are already
doing, rather than starting from scratch or adopting “best practice” from developed
world cities.

155 

 
 Finally, to enable a move toward a greater share of online participation
channels, such as through smart phone applications and social media,
municipalities need to make sure they invest in smart people and not only in smart
technologies. A recent Nesta report on bottom-up smart cities highlighted the
necessity for city government employees and citizens to develop a better
understanding of data and technology in order to make the most of the new
opportunities they offer.
The Smart Cities Mission requires smart people who actively participate in
governance and reforms. Citizen involvement is much more than a ceremonial
participation in governance. Smart people involve themselves in the definition of the
Smart City, decisions on deploying Smart Solutions, implementing reforms, doing
more with less and oversight during implementing and designing post-project
structures in order to make the Smart City developments sustainable. The
participation of smart people will be enabled by the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV)
through increasing use of ICT, especially mobile-based tools.
Smart City Proposal, and recommended MyGov as the core platform for
citizen consultation Citizen consultation Ministry encouraged local governments to
engage citizens as they worked on their city’s is an important pillar of the first phase
of the Smart Cities Mission. The Municipal governments supplemented their online
MyGov activities with meetings, discussions, and other public interactions in their
respective cities.
MyGov facilitated citizen consultation for the Smart Cities Mission in two
stages. During the first round, it offered cities a range of citizen consultation
methodologies, such as discussion forums, tasks, online polls, public talks, and
blogs. These tools served as a catalyst for citizens to participate in the Smart Cities
Mission and the competition, also known as the India Smart Cities Challenge, and
offer suggestions for the development of their city.

156 

 
 During the second round of the Smart Cities Mission, municipal authorities
from the shortlisted cities used MyGov to collect suggestions from citizens on their
vision for a Smart City to incorporate these into draft proposals. Of the 98 cities, 57
put the draft proposals online for further comments and inputs from the public.
Overall, the proposals received a total of 1,42,895 comments.
The 98 cities adopted a range of measures to encourage citizen
engagement. Municipalities reached out to young citizens by visiting schools and
colleges to educate them about the Mission. Municipal corporations used popular
social networking platforms like Facebook and Twitter to spread awareness about
the mission. Still others created dedicated websites with detailed updates on
progress. SMS campaigns, voice message campaigns, and airtime on radio
channels helped expand a municipality’s reach. Many cities even created free Wi-Fi
hotspots in crowded areas so that people could access Internet and submit
suggestions. Advertisements in newspapers, pamphlets, hoardings, and the MyGov
app played a significant role in making the Smart City Mission a nationwide
phenomenon.
The Smart Cities Mission – MyGov collaboration is an unprecedented
exercise in urban planning, which has transformed planning from a top-down
centralized activity into a democratic consultative process, taking the citizens’
perspective as the foundation stone on which the city plan is built. MyGov looks
forward to partnering with more cities and citizens in the subsequent rounds of the
Smart Cities Mission play its part in developing Smart Cities across India.

157 

 
How to involve the citizens in the Smart City development process?
The citizens living in a particular region of the country are the key
stakeholders of any form of Government, whether it is national, provincial or local.
Since citizens are the major contributors of valuable financial and human resources
in the form of tax payers and human services to the local bodies, their expectations
with regard to the quality of citizen service delivery by the local government will be
high. The major developmental policies evolved by the governments based on the
positive political will influence the degree of interest of the citizens for their active
involvement in the governing process. The present government as part of
implementation of its urban development policies with a strong political will
introduced the concept of “Smart Cities” in India. The Government is reiterating the
need for active citizen participation in the process of making smart cities, and
appealing the citizens time and again to become “Smart” since the success of the
smart city concept depends to a large extent on the important element of “Citizen
Participation”. It is therefore felt necessary that the city governments of the selected
smart cities are expected to evolve such policies and procedures which would
positively influence the active participation of the citizens. Human psychology is a
complex element to understand and influence for the purpose of achieving positive
targeted results, particularly in a country like India. The behavioral pattern and the
intensity of impact of influential factors vary from city to city depending upon the
leadership style based on various socio, economic, geographical, political and
cultural constraints in the State in which the city is situated. Active citizen
participation is possible through a democratic leadership style with a limited
publicity in a small city having a low population living in cities like Kakinada,
Belagavi and Guwahati. Where as it may be difficult in major cities like
Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar, Chennai and so on by virtue of the increased size
of population and urban areas. The city selected on the basis of achieving higher
scoring through active citizen participation in the initial selection phase may find it
difficult to get similar results in the project implementation stage.

The Citizen Voluntary Technical Groups Approach

At this stage, it is necessary to identify various ways and means for active
citizen participation channels available through direct modes of contacts and
involvement of the citizen in the governing process with the help of Information,
Communication and Technology (ICT), besides the important channel of human
resource development (HRD). The direct channels of citizen participation through
ICT are successful to the extent of citizens groups belonging to the cities which are
small in area and population having a high degree of literacy rate, where as it may
be difficult in cities that are large in size of area and population having higher
volume of slum population with low literacy rates. This situation can be tackled by
the capacity building approach in the process of smart cities development. At this
stage, implementation of the vital system of “Capacity Building” in local
governments plays an important role in the smart city development process through
effective coordination with the citizens. The active citizen participation is possible
only through creation of Citizen Voluntary Technical Groups (CVTG) in the cities,
which are to be continuously handled, involved and monitored with the help of
inception of HRD Centres as part of capacity building approach in the smart city
development process. The Citizen Voluntary Technical Groups are those teams of
citizens created and constituted by the local government in a systematic approach

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of categorization based on professional background and other formal social groups
including government and non-government service organizations existing in the
city. Accordingly, various CVT groups have to be formed inviting the citizens and
members belonging to various professional bodies such as educational institutions
and universities, legal, civil engineering, architecture, journalism, political and any
other such professional bodies, which are involved in the service activities. The
members of the CVT groups are to be involved in the smart city development
process right from the phase of strategic planning till the completion of the projects
through regular and frequent interactive sessions. The local government has to
evolve the system of monitoring the Citizen Voluntary Technical Groups, and
entrust the responsibility to the HRD Centres in involving the CVT groups in the
smart city development projects. The role and responsibilities of the HRD Centres
in the smart city government is crucial in so far as the active participation of the
citizens concerned in making the complete success of smart city project.

Citizen Participation through Capacity Building Approach

The Smart Cities Mission requires all the stakeholders participating in the
city governance as well as the citizen groups to be smart in making the urban
reforms a successful mission. The citizen participation and involvement play an
important role in achieving the objective. As per the definition of the smart city, the
objectives of the smart city development can be achieved through implementation
of continuous process of capacity building at the city governance levels involving
the citizens as the major group of stakeholders. The concept of smart cities has
already gained momentum with the Government of India launching the citizen
portal- www.mygov.in through which the short listed city governments have
obtained suggestions for improving the citizen service delivery system in the smart
cities. The said portal has been considered useful in the planning phase of smart
cities. A comparative study of the feedback received from the citizens of the short
listed smart cities reveal that the number and nature of suggestions vary from city
to city based on various factors of demographical, social and economic conditions
irrespective of the size and location of the cities. It is observed that a city like
Kakinada having population of below 5 lakhs in the urban area of around 150 Sq.
Kms. received more than 20 thousands of suggestions when compared to a very
less number of suggestions (below 5000) received by a city like Visakhapatnam
having around 20 lakhs of population in the city area of 620 Sq. Kms. Both the
cities are selected in the first phase of 20 smart cities for funding by the
Government of India. However, the grounds qualified for selection and the
weightage accrued under various defined parameters of the twenty cities differ from
city to city. In all the cases, citizen involvement and participation is considered as
an important parameter in addition to the elements of urban development depicted
in the plan documents submitted by the cities. As the size of the city and the
population grows the complexity of the element of citizen participation needs
special attention by the city governments. It is needless to emphasize capacity
building as an important approach for achieving the critical area of urban
development through citizen participation.
The citizen feedback in the initial phase of smart city planning reveals that
the Smart City Challenge is complex in nature, based on important factors of social,
economic and geographical conditions prevailing in the respective cities, and
“Capacity Building” of the short listed cities has an important role to play in facing

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the smart city challenge. It is observed that the capacity building and institutional
building of smart cities through implementation of an effective internal functional
system in the city governance would provide positive results in the development of
smart cities. As per the discussion, it can be derived that the capacity building
approach in smart cities has a twofold objective of (i) improved smart city
development through (ii) effective governance and citizen participation.

How to Improve Capacity Building?

Capacity building is defined as a long-term continuous process of
development that involves all stakeholders of the organization including the
members of the community, employees, professionals and other groups. It uses the
human, scientific, institutional technology and resource capability. Capacity building
takes place at an individual level, institutional level and social level. The process
involves participants to build and enhance knowledge and skills at individual level,
involving policies supporting organization structures and effective methods of
management at institutional level, and interactive public administration with
responsive and accountable participation of community participation at societal
level. The major objective of capacity building of smart cities is to develop the
human resource at individual, institutional and community levels, which is an
essential requirement for smart city development. Until now, the capacity building
approach in city governance in India is given less priority, and the skill improvement
of human resource in the local governments is considered as a low priority area by
nominating less number of target groups of employees to the external capacity
building programs at long interval of time. The capacity building approach should
be an integral part of city governance by which all the related stakeholder groups
are actively involved in the process of development of the smart city. It is therefore
necessary that the local bodies, in order to face the challenge with competitive
spirit, have to commence the process of human resource development for the
purpose of effective citizen responsive and relationship management to achieve the
smart city development goals.
At this stage, it is necessary to describe the role of capacity building as an
essential approach of problem solving system for environmental, economic and
social transformations for a better governance that leads to sustainable urban
development. This includes building up the ability to budget, collect revenue, create
and implement loss, promote civic engagement with transparent and accountable
administration of local bodies for effective citizen service delivery.
The capacity building efforts at smart city levels focus to enhance the
institutional capacities for improved service delivery. At the State and MoUD level,
the efforts focus on creating an enabling environment at local body level to improve
governance and service delivery functions, and more importantly to implement the
smart city activities.
Building of network with different actors at national and international level is
a major area of focus to strengthen resource and knowledge management gaps at
supply and demand side.

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The capacity building program has two components namely:
• development of smart cities for strengthened urban management, and
• the second component deals with creation of supporting structure and
mechanisms at state and central levels to facilitate capacity building of
smart cities.

Vision, Mission and Objectives of Capacity Building

• The Vision is to equip and empower the smart cities, enabling discharge
the functions in accordance with the framework of the MoUD,
Government of India.
• The Mission of Smart cities shall be equipped and empowered by building
capacities in terms of human resources, infrastructure procedures and
systems to effectively deliver basic services to the citizens of India.
• The objectives of comprehensive Capacity Building Program through
creation of specialized HRD function within the smart city governance are
to create an enabling environment for capacity building of ULBs with right
mix of policy and implementation supports in the areas of organizational
development, human resource development, strategic planning
technology improvements and resource mobilization capacities.

The inception of HRD centers and the comprehensive capacity building

system in the smart city governance will ensure equity, inclusiveness and
responsiveness of the city government officials and elected representatives.

The specific objectives of HRD centers are to help the city governments and
States to:
• effectively function as institutions of local governance in accordance with
the governing statues of the State.
• develop capacities in the areas of procurement and project development,
• handle operational management and maintenance, financial
management, budgeting and accounting.
• achieve the benchmarks of reforms on smart city management and
renewal,
• promote urban planning and sustainable urban habitats in the cities
• provide support for the creation of municipal cadre in States.
• create an enabling environment for stakeholder consultations and
participation in service delivery.
• promote the use of information communication technologies and robust
information systems through e-governance.
• support States to strengthen the supply side training and capacity building
institutions, especially State Training institutes to meet the higher level
capacity building and human resource needs of smart cities.
• Strengthen the capacities of smart cities to mainstream gender in all
activities and promote gender budgeting and
• Develop centres of excellence for urban management.

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Implementation of Capacity Building System in Smart Cities
Based on the present experience of variations in the feedback obtained
through the government portal during the planning phase of smart city development
of the listed cities and the dire need for establishing capacity building through
Project Management Unit (PMU), it is necessary to commence of HRD centres as
internal system of governance in the listed smart cities. The program involves not
only the skill and knowledge improvement of the employees of the ULBs, but also
creating Citizen Voluntary Technical Groups (CVTG) for involvement and
participation of smart city development. The HRD centres have an important role of
comprehensive capacity building of the smart cities, and improve skill and
knowledge of the cities stakeholders in accordance with the guidelines issued by
the ministry of urban development through various training programs, workshops,
seminars and interactive sessions at city government level in the PMU
implementation.
The challenges in capacity building can be divided into institutional and
human resource levels.
The institutional challenges can be tackled by
• accelerated business process re-engineering efforts
• consolidation of data on city governments, supporting institutions
and their services
• strengthening the monitoring and evaluation system, and
• clear demarcation of responsibility between smart cities and the
supporting institutions of capacity building

The human resource challenges can be addressed by the HRD centres

within the smart cities by
• estimating and putting place optimal manpower at all levels of the city
Government, as well as at the attached offices of the local
Government and the supporting agencies;
• enhancing professional expertise: There is a shortage of subject
specialists and lack of technical know-how to implement various
components under the program. Limited professional expertise /
subject specialists and lack of technical know-how to implement
• various components under the program have resulted in delays in
addressing the challenges. This challenge can be handled through
identifying the subject specialists within the smart cities as in-house
trainers;
• enhancing capacity of the smart cities through exchange of ideas of
urban development, to scale up and deliver research, and conduct
training and capacity building programs across the cities.

Summing up, the cities to become smart, require the citizens to be smart
and capacity building plays an important vital role in the process. The capacity
building activity, through inception of HRD centres in the smart cities selected by
the Government, should become an integral part of local governance, and viewed
as a supporting activity with defined functions under the control of a senior
professional HR expert assisted by a team of experienced functional faculty.

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 The primary objectives of the proposed HRD centres in smart cities are
to be aimed at
• a sound HRD manual based on a detailed study of the existing HR
inventory of the smart city,
• a well defined training and development policy in accordance with the
approved City Development Plan of the smart city,
• an effective Citizen Responsive Management system based on the
prevailing socio, economic, demographical and geographical conditions of
the smart city,
• a sustainable urban development policy based on activity analysis of the
smart city,
• an effective environmental policy based on the prevailing climatic and
geographical conditions of the smart city.

The functions of the HRD centres in the smart cities are to be designed so
as to ensure the accomplishment of smart city challenge, as detailed below:
• Regular in-house training and development programs for the entire
human resource of the city government including the council members
and other stakeholders of the smart city.
• Formation of Citizen Volunteer Technical Groups according to nature
of professional activities of the citizens in the smart city, as envisaged in
the previous sections, and regular interactive sessions with the members
of the CVTG groups for their active involvement in the smart city
development process.
• Conducting seminars and workshops on important areas of urban
administration and city management, involving various stakeholders
groups of the city.
• Perpetual inventory of human resource in the smart city.
• Support for implementation of changing organizational and service
deliveries in accordance with the directions issued by the State and
Central Governments from time to time.
• Preparation of important manuals in the areas of HRD, Citizen
Responsive Management, activity analysis for sustainable urban
development and a sound environmental policy of the smart city.
• Supporting the city administration in the areas of newly introduced
concepts of national and international importance in the areas of urban
development, environmental sustainability, poverty alleviation etc.
• Research and development by supporting the city governance in various
studies of urban development and environmental sustainability projects
of national and international organizations, involving all the city
stakeholder groups.
• Supporting the academic community in research and development in the
area of sustainable urban and environmental development.
• Preparation of study reports, notes and presentations on the important
developmental activities for knowledge sharing among the council
members, employees and other stakeholders within the city and between
the smart cities for sharing of best smart city practices.

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 • Coordination of important projects on smart city development and
environmental sustainability practices initiated and handled by the
supporting developed nations and global agencies like World Bank,
Asian Development Bank, UNDP, UNEP, etc.
• Nomination of council members, officers and other city stakeholders to
various capacity building programs conducted by external training
institutions in India and abroad.
• Regular coordination and monitoring of various important projects in the
areas of smart city development, climate and environmental
sustainability, urban resilience, disaster management, etc., grounded by
the central and state governments including various national and
international agencies, for successful and effective handling.
• Documentation of MoUs, feedback reports of important national and
international projects of city development and environmental
sustainability including coordination and monitoring between the
supporting international agencies and the smart cities.
• Conducting regular Interactive sessions with the members of the
supporting international agencies and the smart city functionaries
including providing necessary inputs to the team members of the
supporting agencies and the smart city functionaries.

To conclude, in order to achieve the primary objective of the Government of

India in making the Indian cities Smart and urban resilient with the active
participation of the citizens, it is necessary to strengthen capacity building and
institutional building of the cities selected for smart cities development through
inception of HRD Centres as a regular and internal functional system of urban
governance. This would make the Indian cities not only smart but also strong urban
resilient.
Capacity Building in Visakhapatnam – A Case Study
As envisaged in the preceding paras, the increased urbanization of the
city associated with a corresponding shift in the volume of demand for citizen
services and improved quality of life have given scope of implementation of
scientific approaches in the system of urban governance in the local government of
Visakhapatnam. The city management of Visakhapatnam identified the immediate
need for introduction of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT)
approach besides the vital area of improved institutional building through capacity
building activities within the organization.
Inception of HRD Centre in City Government
The local government identified the
need to improve employee skills and
performance of the available manpower in the
Corporation in accordance with the quantum of
proposed development and the technicalities
of the projects taken up during the previous
urban development plan period(2005-12). The
local government of Visakhapatnam identified
the need for creation of a separate HRD

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centre within the organization, based on specific recommendations of the study
conducted by the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI), Hyderabad during
the year 2006 in accordance with the
directions of the State Government.
The purpose creation of HRD centre
in Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal
Corporation, is to
• enhance the institutional building of
the local government through
continuous training and
development of manpower and
stakeholders of the ULB,
• regularly monitor and control of the
project implementation through citizen groups (City Volunteer Technical
Corps),
• improve the citizen delivery system in accordance with the defined urban
norms,
• monitor and control the overall city governance in accordance with the
planned document under the urban rejuvenation program.

Accordingly, GVMC commenced a

separate HRD Centre, headed by a
professional specialist, during the year 2008,
with the following objectives:
• to develop institutional and capacity
building for pro-poor governance to
promote all inclusive city
development,
• to improve Human Resource
Capacity to enhance efficiency in
civic administration and planned spatial and socio-economic
development of the city of Visakhapatnam,
• to enhance sensitivity and focus on issues and concerns of the poor and
marginalized sections of the society and to include them in the process of
urban planning and development,
• to effectively implement projects and reforms in accordance with the
guidelines of the Govt. of India

Functions of HRD Centre

• Regular in-house training and development programs for the entire
human resource of GVMC including all cadres and categories of
employees.
• Regular interactive sessions with various stakeholders such as members
of NGOs, Women organizations, Self Help Groups and other Citizen
Welfare Groups.

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 • Formation of City Volunteer Technical Corps (CVTC) groups based on
the categorization of citizen groups as per their professional background
such as academic, architecture,
environmental, health, journalism,
urban planning, legal, finance,
trade and so on. Involving the
members of CVTC groups through
regular interactive sessions for a
detailed discussion and feedback
on implementation of the mission
projects envisaged under the CDP.
• Conducting seminars and
workshops on important areas of urban administration and city
management, involving various stakeholders groups of the city.
• Perpetual inventory of human resource.
• Support for implementation of changing organizational and service
deliveries in accordance with the directions issued by the State and
Central Governments from time to
time.
• Preparation of important policies
in the areas of HRD.
• Designing and implementation of
concepts for improvement of
quality of service delivery by the
employees.
• Supporting the city
administration in the areas of
newly introduced concepts of
national and international importance in the areas of urban development,
environmental sustainability, poverty alleviation etc.
• Research and development by supporting the city governance in various
studies of urban development and environmental sustainability projects of
national and international
organizations, involving all the
city stakeholder groups.
• Supporting the academic
community in research and
development in the area of
sustainable urban and
environmental development.
• Preparation of study reports,
notes and presentations on the
important developmental
activities for knowledge sharing
among the council members, employees and other stakeholders within
the city and between the mission city under Peers Experience and
Reflective Learning (PEARL) program.

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 • Coordination of important projects on urban development and
environmental sustainability initiated
and handled by various
international supporting agencies
such as World Bank, Asian
Development Bank, Swedish
International Development Agency
(SIDA), Cities Development
Initiative Asia (CDIA), ICLEI for
South Asia, UNDP, UNEP, etc.
• Nomination of council members,
employees and other city
stakeholders to various capacity building programs conducted by various
training institutions in India and abroad as part of knowledge sharing and
learning best urban practices.
• Regular coordination and monitoring of various important projects in the
areas of urban development,
climate and environmental
sustainability, urban resilience,
disaster management, etc.,
grounded by the government
including various national and
international agencies, for
successful and effective
implementation.
• Documentation of MoUs, feedback
reports of important national and
international projects of city development and environmental
sustainability

Capacity Building Programs

The HRD Centre conducted the following capacity building programs
during 2008-2013:

No. of
No. of Total No. of
Workshops No. of
Year Training Programs/
/Interactive Trainees
Programs Sessions
sessions
2008 32 06 38 1608
2009 48 12 60 2126
2010 24 18 42 2062
2011 45 24 69 2262
2012 26 18 48 1367
2013 02 01 03 67
January
Total 177 79 260 9492

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Employees nominated for external capacity building programs

No. of No. of
Training Employees/
Year
Programmes/ Council
Conferences members
2008 18 24
2009 38 49
2010 29 38
2011 20 24
2012 22 31
2013
January 2 2
Total 129 168

External Study Visits by Council Members and Officials of GVMC

No. of
Year Study visits Team
members
2009 Coordinated study tour of council members and officials
to Stockholm, Sweden on Vizag City Sustainability
Review project.
2010 Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Mysore, and Cochin Municipal 68
Corporations
2011 • Pune, Pimpri Chinchuwad, Greater Mumbai 26
Municipal Corporations
• Coordinated Study visit to Sweden on waste to 5
energy and world water week-2011 along with
the city Mayor, and other council members and
officials of GVMC 1
• Coordinated study tour of the Commissioner to
Disaster Management training in Bangkok

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 • Coordinated Commissioner’s visit to Euro India 1
Summit in Leuven, Belgium
2012 • Coordinated study tour of the Council members 38
and floor leaders to Bangalore and Mysore
Municipal Corporations
• Coordinated Commissioner’s participation in
ICLEI Workshop on “Climate Change Adaptation
Strategies” held in Kolkatta
• Coordinated visit of the Commissioner to MUD,
New Delhi in connection with Cycling Project
• Coordinated and deputed the Commissioner and
his team members (CCP & CE) to TF-LUPG
Centre for Liveable Studies, Singapore
• Coordinated participation of the Commissioner,
in the World Urban Forum-6 in Naples, Italy.
• Coordinated and participated in the CCC in
Singapore Environment Institute, Singapore
sponsored by GIZ-CDIA
• Coordinated the study visit of the officials in the
International training program on Urban
Governance held in Stockholm, Sweden,
sponsored by Swedish Embassy, New Delhi

8. Other important activities handled by the HRD centre in GVMC

• Preparation of feedback reports on study tours of council members
and officers for effective coordination and implementation of various
developmental projects.
• Preparation of important manuals in the areas of:
o HRD policy documentation
o Contract labour and outsourcing employees
o Employee training and development manual
o Recruitment process for outsourcing employees
o Policy for PF and ESI proposals for contract labour
o DPR on Replacement of Conventional Street Lighting with LED
Lighting.
• Preparation of employee feedback reports for data bank and
performance appraisal
analysis, in respect of all the
employees, for whom the
training programs have been
conducted.
• Participation in the
employee recruitment
process.
• Conducting of regular
interactive sessions in the
HRD matters, among the functional heads of the Corporation as per
the directions of the Commissioner, from time to time.

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 • Coordination and conducting of meetings, interactive sessions and
power point presentations in various developmental projects of global
agencies such as Swedish
Embassy, SIDA, ICLEI,
CDIA, ASCI, AIILSG, and
other State and Central
Government departments.
• Preparation of HRD
manuals, brochures and
annual books on
developmental activities
from time to time.
• Implementation of Quality
Circle concept.
• Preparation of ward profiles and assembly constituency ward profile
books for the welfare programs of the State.
• Preparation and submission of entries for Performance Awards
instituted at national and international level.
• Participation in the academic and urban development exhibitions
conducted by universities and other training institutions.
• Preparation of DPR on comprehensive capacity building and
institutional building activities.
• Documentation of Housing and Vehicle Free Zones, and
presentations to the Council members and other stakeholders.
• Coordination with the consultants for Revised CDP and Water Supply
Distribution Studies sponsored by CDIA, Manila.
• Preparation of functional operational data files for review and analysis
of the city management from time to time.
• Coordination of national and international workshops and seminars on
Solid Waste Management, housing and poverty alleviation organized
jointly by the State and Central Governments.

9. Impact of HRD activities in GVMC

As a result of continuous capacity building and other supporting activities
of internal and external coordination of the HRD Centre in GVMC, the Corporation
is able to meet the following challenges successfully without corresponding
increase in the manpower strength on account of continuous skill development
activities through capacity building programs in the HRD Centre:
• The Zonal system of decentralization has been successfully launched
and implemented.
• Nearly 90% of the urban developmental projects taken up under
urban renewal project at a total cost of Rs.20.00 Crs. have been
completed within the project period.
• Various environmental projects for improvement of green urban
economy have been successfully launched, which include low carbon
mobility systems such as cycling and public transport, improvement of
greenery, LED Street lighting, etc.

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 • The efficiency in local governance together with the quality,
commitment and performance levels of the employees of the local
Government have been considerably improved.
• The public health and sanitation operations have been increased
threefold in relation to the population and area of jurisdiction for the
past ten years.
The city could recover within a span of one year from the major
devastation created by a massive shock of Hud Hud Cyclone crossed
Bay of Bengal in the heart of the city during October 2014. The reasons
for attaining normalcy of urban living in the city can be attributed to
synergic effect of the efforts of the State and local Government
machinery together with the besides the inbuilt urban resilience of the
city.
The total budgetary operations have been increased from Rs.750 Crores in
2004-05 to Rs.2500 Crores in 2014-15.
• The yearly demand of internal revenue generation through property
and other taxes has been increased from Rs.85.00 Crs. in the year
2005-06 to more than Rs.180.00Crs. during the year 2014-2015.
• The total city planning operations have been increased three fold from
building plans issued for a total built up area of 4,70,000 Sq.mts in the
year 2007 to 15,00,000/- Sq.mts in 2014.
• The ICT system has been successfully implemented in respect of all
important functional operations of revenue, accounting, engineering
including smart city governance.
• The status of Visakhapatnam city has been elevated to international
city and recognized as an important Urban Resilience Centre in the
global urban map, as a result of which the city has been selected for
support to make an “International Smart and Urban Resilient City” by
the Government of United States of America.

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 Awards and Appreciations
Besides the above mentioned operational achievements, GVMC is
able to achieve the following national and international performance awards
during the period between 2008 and 2012:
• Best City Award for Internal Earmarking of Budget
for Poor under JNNURM, for the year 2008-09
from the Govt. of India
• Best City Award for BSUP under JNNURM, 2008-
09 from the Govt. of India.
• Best City Award for Implementation of Reforms in
Urban Infrastructure and Governance under
JNNURM for the year 2009-10 from the Govt. of
India
• Best City Award for Implementation of Basic
Services to Urban Poor under JNNURM for the
year 2009-10 from the Govt. of India.
• Nagar Ratna Award–2011 for Best City Reforms –
Received from Her Excellency Hon’ble President
of India, Smt. Pratibha Patil.
• Best Habitat City Award under BSUP category of
JNNURM for the year 2010-11 from the Govt. of
India.
• Euro India Award -2011 for Environmental
Sustainability, from the Euro India Centre, Leuven,
Belgium.
• National Level first prize (Gold) SKOCH Digital
Inclusion Award-2011 for IT operations in GVMC.
• JNNURM Awards for the year 2011-12 from
Government of India
• Recognition of Vizag City as “Green Economy City”
in the World Urban Forum, 2012, participated by
the Commissioner, GVMC in Italy.
• Energy savings award for implementation of LED
street lighting (2015).
• Recognition as 8th position among the 20 Smart
Cities in India by MoUD, Govt. of India (2016).
• Best Clean City Award occupying 5th position
among the best clean cities in India by MoUD, Govt.
of India (2016).

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 10. Observations
A detailed review and analysis of attaining the eligibility for support of
Smart City Reforms and achieving the higher ranks in the ‘Smart City
Challenge’ by Visakhapatnam city is taken up with the SWOT analysis. The
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of Visakhapatnam have
been measured in terms of quantitative and qualitative analysis and the
following observations are made. These observations are useful for future
guidance and for achieving the smart city objectives in accordance with the
expectations and standards fixed by the Govt. of India.

Strengths
• The increasing growth of urban agglomeration, vast land area
having around 46 percent of green area, more than 150 Kms long
sea coast with picturesque of green hills is the major strength of
Visakhapatnam for development as Smart city.
• The scope for land use for the targeted urban development with
necessary inbuilt urban resilience of the city is another important
factor in facing the regular environmental threats such as massive
cyclones and floods.
• The local government is able to handle the smart city challenges
with improved urban governance and support from the State and
Central Governments.
• The improved employee performance and commitment levels
together with necessary citizen participation and involvement are
other major strengths in achieving the support for smart city
development.
Weaknesses
• The major weakness of Visakhapatnam is the geographical
location of the city besides a rough Bay of Bengal sea prone to
natural disasters of cyclones with high speed gales every
monsoon season leaving huge devastation in the city and
surrounding areas.
• Absence of Inter and intra departmental coordination and
cooperation in handling the smart city challenges after grounding
the projects including efforts for coordination with global
supporting agencies such as USTDA, UNDP, World Bank ADB,
etc.
• The existing system of generation of revenues in accordance with
the annual budget estimates of capital and revenue expenditure is
to be redefined.
• Lack of financial accountability and absence of regular policy
making due to long gaps of elected city council is another setback
in launching the developmental projects and completion of the
projects.

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 Opportunities
• Visakhapatnam city has a great opportunity for smart city
development by virtue of the prevailing situation of socio-economic
conditions and its geographical location having a long sea coast
with high resilient vast urban area.
• A major urban development has already been taken place with
grounding of various developmental projects in the urban
rejuvenation mission earlier, which is providing a major opportunity
for smart city development through retrofit approach.
• The inbuilt urban resilience is providing an opportunity to face the
major threats and shocks of natural disasters.
• The city has a regular opportunity of availing support and
cooperation of the citizens, besides the administrative, technical
and financial support extended by the national and international
agencies in times of exigencies.

Threats
• A major threat for the city is always a continuous risk of natural
disasters, and absence of continuity in grounding the urban
resilience projects on account of frequent administrative changes
and discontinuation of capacity building activities.
• The other major threat is insufficient revenue generation to meet
the cost of smart city development projects associated with
absence of inter-departmental coordination and coordination with
supporting global agencies, USTDA in particular, due to
discontinuation of capacity building activities.
• Increased corruption as reported in the local press from time to
time. This may be due to diminishing accountability levels of the
part of employees in the absence of regular training programs and
inter department meets.
• Inadequate citizen response and participation for successful
grounding of smart city projects on account of absence of effective
system of coordination with citizen voluntary groups.

From the entire study, it can be concluded that there is a positive relation
between resilience and climate change, between resilience and global warming,
between resilience and risk, between resilience and between resilience and risk
based on the behavioral patterns of the human beings. The hypothesis that
urban resilience and recovery through human behavior has a positive impact on
the well being of not only entire mankind but also the entire living things on the
earth.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

AMRUT : Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation

APIIC : AP Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Limited
APEPDCL : AP Eastern Power Distribution Company Limited
BRTS : Bus Rapid Transit System
CNG : Compressed Natural Gas
CRM : Citizen Responsive Management
CRF : City Resilience Framework
CRZ : Coastal Regulation Zone
CDP : City Development Plan
CFL : Compact Florescent Lamp
DMRC : Delhi Metro Rail Corporation
DTH : Direct to Home
DRR : Disaster Risk Reduction
DPR : Draft Project Report
EXIM PARK : Export and Import Park
EE : Energy Efficiency
GOI : Government of India
UNDP : United Nations Development Program
HWSR : High Wind Speed Recorders
ESIA : Environmental and Social Impact Assessment
JNNURM : Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission
JTWC : Joint Typhoon Warning Centre
GHE : Green House Emissions
GDP : Gross Domestic Product
GVMC : Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation
GITHAM : Gandhi Institute of Technology and Management
IMD : Indian Meteorological Department
IAM : Indian Institute of Management
IFR : International Fleet Review
IIIT : Indian Institute of Information Technology
ITDA : Integrated Tribal Development Agency
ICLEI : International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives
ITIR : Information Technology Investment Region
LED : Light Emitting Diode
LCMP : Low Carbon Mobility Plan
MRTS : Mass Rapid Transit System
PMU : Project Management Unit
MPEDA : Marine Products Export Development Agency
MoUD : Ministry of Urban Development
NWP : Numerical Weather Prediction
NDRF : National Defense Response Force
NTPC : National Thermal Power Corporation
NDMA : National Disaster Management Authority
NEOC : National Emergency Pollution Centre
SCDP : Smart City Development Plan
SCP : Smart City Challenge
SPV : Special Purpose Vehicle
SAIL : Steel Authority of India Limited
VSP : Visakhapatnam Steel Plant
VSEZ : Visakhapatnam Special Economic Zone
ULB : Urban Local Body
UNEP : United Nations Environment Project
UGD : Underground Drainage
USTDA : United States Trade Development Agency
VCSR : Vizag City Sustainability Review
VFZ : Vehicle Free Zone
VK-PCPIR : Visakhapatnam Kakinada Petrochemical Investment Regions
VUDA : Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority

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