Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s Housing and Urban Development (H&UD) department on Wednesday signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Airawat Research Foundation (ARF) at IIT Kanpur to implement AI-driven, citizen-centric governance.
The agreement, described as a strategic collaboration, aims to integrate fragmented urban data onto a
unified digital platform, enabling faster and more responsive public services. “This collaboration focuses on leveraging cutting-edge technologies like “Digital Twins” and predictive analytics to optimise critical sectors such as water management, traffic control, waste disposal, and air quality monitoring,” an official release said.
The initiative seeks to dismantle traditional data silos that have limited coordination between departments and transition city administration from a reactive model to a proactive, data-driven system. It envisions urban infrastructure behaving like a “living organism” that continuously adapts to residents’ real-time needs through constant monitoring and predictive insights, the release added.