Safe City Project: 700 CCTV cameras help police in resolving 50 cases

Aurangabad, Aug 18:

The ambitious Safe City project is funded by the Aurangabad Smart City Development Corporation Limited (ASCDCL). The project of valuing Rs 178 crore is yielding good results due to the installation of 700 CCTV cameras which are further linked to the Command and Control Centre (CCC) on the campus of the police commissioner's office. So far, the police succeeded in investigating and resolving 50 cases relating to chain snatching, dacoity, looting, vehicle-lifting, accidents etc.

The other feature of the CCTV network is that the CCC receives an alarm if persons more than beyond capacity gathers at any circle. Besides, if a sketch of any criminal is uploaded online then the centre will alert the police by sharing movement and locations of 10 faces matching the sketch in the city.

ASCDCL project engineer Faiz Ali and the project engineer (of private agency) Ashish Sharma gave a demonstration today. They apprised that 600 CCTV cameras are installed at fixed points, while 100 high quality rotational (360 degrees) cameras are installed in the vicinity of each police station (in the jurisdiction of AMC). Besides, an optic fibre cable network of 150 kilometres has been laid underground with the help of BSNL. As of today, all 700 cameras are functioning to their fullest capacity. They have been installed at 418 places (points). The police officials, employees along

contractor's personnel work on a shift basis to keep a 24x7 watch. The private agency is responsible to maintain the project for the period of the next five years. The ASCDCL has plans to set up one more CCC in its Smart City Office near Aamkhas Maidan.

Each citizen traceable

The police officials and personnel of each police station have been trained to investigate the case utilising the CCTV cameras. This helps in detecting the accused or trace his movement and alert the personnel of other police stations. Accordingly, the police resolved 50 cases to date. Each person is seen clearly due to the fixation of high-resolution cameras. The police sitting in the CCC can also detect suspicious movement of any person, or find out the whereabouts of an

unclaimed bag or vehicle, etc. Hence the citizens should keep in mind that they are under CCTV surveillance.

Sensitive areas on priority

The CCTV cameras installed at the sensitive squares or circles are equipped with an auto system. Hence, the CCC receives an alarm on the gathering of rush more than the capacity then CCC receives an alarm and the police concern reaches the spot immediately. The digital data is preserved for 30 days and very important data could be saved for one year. The capacity of the system is of 15 Petabytes.

Pollution Control machines

The safe city project valuing Rs 178 crore also includes many important works other than the installation of CCTV cameras. The state-of-the-art machines have been installed at Mahanubhav Ashram and Kranti Chowk to monitor the growing pollution, displayed digital boards at 50 different places etc. The plan to install GPS to each ghanta gadi, garbage transporting truck, and the Smart City Buses to keep track is on verge of implementation.