PRAYAGRAJ, May 2 -- With growing effectiveness and rising demand, the solid waste management smart control room of the Prayagraj Municipal Corporation (PMC) is moving toward full-time operations. Permanent staff are now being recruited through a formal tender process to ensure faster and more comprehensive resolution of civic issues. In a major step toward smarter urban governance, PMC had set up the solid waste management control room-powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and supported by the Smart City Mission-ahead of Mahakumbh 2025. It was formally inaugurated by Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on November 27, 2023. Initially run under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funding, the control room resolved over 20,000 public service issues-ranging from uncollected garbage and encroachments to choked drains-between January and March 2025 alone, officials said. PMC additional commissioner Deependra Yadava explained that earlier, the city's AI monitoring was limited to two cameras mounted on scooters. These covered only small areas and required manual surveys, causing delays of 6-8 hours in issue reporting. The system is now being upgraded to vehicle-based surveillance, with 10 AI-equipped cameras-eight on Road Sweeping Machines (RSMs) and two on UPSRTC electric buses. Each UPSRTC e-bus typically covers 200 km per day in the city, while an RSM moves around 30 km at slower speeds. This integration allows for broader area coverage and improved detection efficiency for real-time issue monitoring, he added. Currently, two AI-equipped vehicles patrol 70 km of city roads daily-35 km each in the morning and evening. Images captured are transmitted in real-time to the control room, where officials alert zonal officers and sanitation inspectors for prompt action. The AI control room now monitors a wide range of civic functions, including street sweeping schedules, garbage removal, tracking of garbage collection vehicles, door-to-door waste collection, public toilet hygiene and solid waste processing. Additionally, the system facilitates the instant detection and resolution of overflowing garbage points, non-functional streetlights, potholes, illegal hoardings, encroachments, and stray cattle obstructing roads. "This is the first time such an AI-based control room has been developed in Uttar Pradesh for comprehensive waste and sanitation management," said additional commissioner Yadava. "Its success during Mahakumbh preparations has turned it into a flagship initiative." The control room continuously evolves based on citizen feedback and actively uses AI cameras to identify faulty streetlights, potholes, garbage collection issues, garbage-vulnerable points (GVPs), stray animals and illegal hoardings and encroachments....