The best way to predict the future is to create it. So, Ranchiites, here is your golden chance to literally compose your own smart city.

The Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) on Wednesday invited citizens, through newspaper advertisements, to join a unique essay contest themed Mere Sapnon ka Shahar (My Dream City) to understand their infrastructure needs should the capital make it to the Top 20 list for the Centre's smart city project.

Participants will need to sum up in 1,000 words the problems the city faces, best possible solutions for those problems and priorities of people in a smart city. The three best essays will win cash prizes of Rs 25,000, Rs 15,000 and Rs 10,000 in that order.

The handwritten or typed essays in Hindi or English must reach the RMC's drop box by 3pm on November 4. Interested candidates can also mail their write-ups to smartranchi@ranchimunicipal.com.

"The objective (of the contest) is to create an open forum of discussion. Anyone - barring schoolchildren for whom we have a separate competition underway - can take part. We will read all the essays to understand the dreams and aspirations of citizens. For, they are the best observers of problems in their hometown," said RMC commissioner Prashant Kumar.

Kumar said the panel of judges would include urban development experts, intellectuals and officials of RMC and consulting agency Ernst & Young. However, the date for results would be announced later since, he insisted, comparative study of the essays would be a time-taking job.

"We have already started essay competitions in schools on the same topic. Ten private schools across Ranchi have been covered. In the next phase, we will take the contest to government cradles," the commissioner added.

Ranchi is the lone city from Jharkhand to be shortlisted by the Union urban development ministry earlier this year. If it clears all parameters, it will be entitled to a development corpus of Rs 100 crore a year for five years.

The RMC has already received Rs 2 crore from the Union ministry for groundwork like hiring a consultant, organising public debates and meeting stakeholders.

Thus, a few weeks ago, the civic guardian hired multinational businessman management major Ernst & Young to facilitate a ground report and conduct technical inspections for the smart city mission.

The RMC will also hold a meeting with Federation of Jharkhand Chamber of Commerce and Industries on Thursday while another meeting is on the cards with technical experts of Mecon.

What will be the peg of your smart city essay?
Tell ttkhand@abpmail.com