Empowering Smart City citizens with a twist

August 30, 2016

Jaskirat Singh, Founder, Webrosoft, was nominated at the Start Up, Stand Up India competition held in New Delhi earlier this year. The company’s Citizens’ Reporting and Mapping Tool (CRAMAT), as the name suggests, puts more power in the hands of the ordinary man.

Excerpts from an interview :

How did the idea for CRAMAT come about?

Three years ago, we were trying to solve a problem in south Punjab relating to cancer. Someone wanted to do a survey of cancer patients and plot some parameters with water quality samples on a map just to see if there was a correlation between the water and where the patients were living. We thought we’d give it a try. After a few months, we had created a special camera app that could take pictures and display the location and time. This way, we could ensure the accuracy of the location. This was the beginning. We realized this could also be used for other purposes and took it to the commissioner of Ludhiana. We told him we could change the parameters of what we are tracking from water samples to roads, street lights or anything else and that even citizens could use this to report civic problems. He was very excited and we launched in Ludhiana the next week. We then started pitching it to other cities. This is how it all started.

That’s a nice story.

Yes it is, isn’t it? How we then became associated with infrastructure was when our Ludhiana commissioner said the app was proving very useful with citizens using it to report problems quite enthusiastically. However, he said the bigger problem was that the grievances were not looked into properly (the basic problem with the Government). He also requested us for a project tracking system for road and bridge projects. If an app could be installed on the phones that the engineers carried, the commissioner would not have to go around the city to monitor or track different projects but see reports from his office. That is how we started projects for the municipal commissioner of Ludhiana and this was our first involvement with infrastructure. We realized this was good business and then decided to seriously work on the app to develop it even further.

After this, you started pitching to other cities?

We were now pitching the app for three things. One was infrastructure since all of them were now doing development and maintenance. Citizens’ grievance was the second one. The third thing which a few cities are also using is our app for attendance and monitoring civic personnel. This includes things like whether the sweepers have arrived on time, swept their area clean, etc.

So, it’s really a smart app, ideal for India’s Smart Cities project.

Our app started before the mission was announced and even before this government came to power. However, we realized we should use this buzzword once it came about since our app is actually a Smart City solution. So why were we not saying it? Therefore, the marketing strategy has been realigned and fits the current context well.

How many cities does the app cover?

There are different use cases. We have about 100 cities covered for grievance reporting. For infrastructure tracking, we are in two cities. For attendance monitoring in the waste management area, we are in two cities. Every city has at least a few hundred secondary dumping points and from there, it goes to the bigger dumping grounds. Tracking and monitoring is important as it is a citizen-centric issue.

What are the plans to expand your coverage?

We are thinking of merging these three into a single product. Although these three things sound very different, we are mostly targeting civic authorities. We’d like to put them into a package. We are also planning to pitch to the Union Government since that may help us find a faster route to pitch to the local governments. The biggest problem with local governments is they take at least six months to understand and take it to the next level for approvals. Unless this comes from higher up, it is slightly difficult. The Central Government is very gung-ho on Swachh Bharat and Smart Cities, so I am hoping for a push from there.

It should be easier for you now that you were nominated for this award…

I hope so but I am not in a position to pre-empt the Government and what it may do! We are trying at all levels, wherever we are getting access.

Have you looked at the cities chosen for the Smart Cities mission in the first phase?

Yes. Very interestingly, some of them have got in touch with us because those who are in the vicinity where we operate have obviously come to know about us. Some of them actually wanted to launch it before their deadline to show they had already implemented it! So, I am very hopeful because it looks like governments are waking up to technology. The push has come from the Central Government schemes. Swachh Bharat and Smart Cities have really helped, big time.

How would you classify what this app does?

In India, I do not know if there is anything like this. However, in the US, similar companies are categorized under civic technology. We feel we are closest to that.

How many downloads so far?

About 40,000 so far.

Don’t you think it should be more?

It is more than 100 cities, of course, with three cities in Punjab (Ludhiana, Mohali and Hoshiarpur) and over 100 cities in Karnataka. Karnataka was launching their m-governance platform last year and found this product suited them well. The MoU was signed with the state government and we launched it. However, after the complaints started rolling in, the problems arose because as so often happens with government, they weren’t prepared to handle all these complaints!

So, what is the way forward? Are you hopeful of more customers?

Yes, of course. While governments are slightly difficult customers, the problem is worse for us as a start-up. There are issues with cash flows and governments are not known for paying on time or even with a reasonable delay. Even ‘reasonable’ is not really anywhere within reason. However, the government is a very credible customer and it looks good in our portfolio. But we still need cash flows and are also targeting the private sector.

How do you envisage a model with the private sector as water, waste management, etc., are all state subjects?

We have a private sector customer already. The municipal corporation of Mohali wanted to track their cleaning personnel and floated a tender for a private player to sweep their roads. To ensure their money was spent on the work for which it was intended, they mandated the company to provide a tracking mechanism. So, we’re now a subcontractor for that company and we found that this was much better. Someone actually appreciated our work, paid us on time and listened to our problems and gave us opportunities to optimise things.