Odisha’s Rourkela has been amongst the 15 cities all over the world to win the 2021 - 2022 Global Mayors Challenge that was conducted by Bloomberg Philanthropies. This prestigious worldwide competition was held to help in recognition of the cities that would design the boldest and the most ambitious innovations for urban areas to emerge from the coronavirus pandemic that has grappled the world for the last two years.
The Bloomberg philanthropies challenge is a yearlong competition that was launched in the year 2021 to elevate the most promising innovations for the urban areas to emerge from the covid-19 pandemic. There were 631 cities from a total of 99 countries that took part in the competition.
The city of Rourkela bagged the winner tag for the provision of cold storage units to the women Co-ops which would lead to the empowerment of female food vendors, reduction in food waste, and the increase in access to fresh foods, as per the press release by the Bloomberg Philanthropies. The city located in Odisha is also the only city from our nation to secure a place in the top 15. The idea pitched by Rourkela was to set up a digitized cluster that would be based on solar cold storage and would make use of electric vehicles for the distribution of perishable commodities to various types of consumers.
After securing a position in the top 15 of the competition, the city is now eligible for a grant of 1 million US dollars from Bloomberg Philanthropies and also get the necessary technical assistance to carry out the innovation in the coming next three years. As part of the project, the city has developed a sustainable model which will enhance the income of women and small-time traders of the whole city with the help of technology. Rourkela Municipal Corporation (RMC) has been able to develop a cold storage facility at the local (VSS) Veer Surendra Sai market in partnership with an NIT Rourkela-based startup that was managed by women self-help group members.
The solution that has been offered by the city would help the local farmers and fruit traders to increase their income by preserving the product and preventing any wastage. Additionally, fresh vegetables and fruits will be delivered to people's doorsteps. This whole system will be managed by the members of women’s self-help groups with the help of mobile apps. This solution does not only help in developing the ecosystem, it will help the women to improve their quality of life. This is a great achievement for the country and hopefully, this will trickle down to all the other areas as well.