Nearly three years ago, Surat embarked on a project to make it safer for its visitors and citizens. It installed high-technology systems to monitor the roads real time and the data was also used to improve traffic management. The public-private-partnership model adopted in Surat is now an example to Coimbatore, which is one of the 20 cities selected for the first phase of the Smart Cities project.
City-wide CCTV surveillance is a component of the Smart Cities project of Coimbatore. The special purpose vehicle to be formed for the project will co-ordinate with several Governmental agencies (traffic police, highways and Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board) to implement it. It will study the systems already in place in some of the western countries and also in Mumbai and Surat.
“Given that Coimbatore shares the industrial and entrepreneurial culture of Surat, the Corporation here sees possibilities to replicate this experience,” says the proposal.
The Smart Cities project plans to have 52 stand-alone CCTVs and 60 inter-linked systems as part of the project and complete it by March 2019.
Meanwhile, the city police have commenced work on a surveillance system by roping in corporates.
“To ensure safety and security in Coimbatore, we have 12 check posts bordering the city which are under constant vigilance of the local police and Central Reserve Police Force. We are now working to upgrade the city surveillance system, of which 50 percent of the process is already done and functioning of the same will commence very soon,” says R. Sivakumar, Deputy Commissioner (Traffic) of the city police.
As part of the project more than 200 high quality Internet Protocol (IP) cameras have been installed at 53 traffic signals in the city. These cameras and nearly 3000 other road facing CCTV cameras installed at commercial establishments in the city will be integrated with a modern control room proposed. Work is underway to monitor the entire city under a single roof with real-time inputs and data back up facilities.
“Technology, with its vast benefits, should be used as a tool to create safer cities for all. The city surveillance initiative will surely act as a strong deterrent for miscreants at public places, because when people know they are being watched they usually behave themselves. Many women we spoke to have expressed their joy on such initiatives as they feel they are not alone, especially at secluded places,” says Preeti Chauhan, co-founder of New Delhi-based Aware Citizen Foundation.
V.K. Sabarivas of a Chennai-based NGO, Thozhan, says, “Installation of surveillance camera will also help in strict regulation of traffic rules, which in turn, will bring down the number of accidents in the country to a very large extent.”
However, “There is also a fair chance for this round-the-clock monitoring to be misused and it might infringe on a person’s privacy. While implementing these smart safety plans, efforts should be taken to protect the privacy of the citizens,” says R. Mabel Lizzy, a research scholar from Bharathiar University.
City-wide CCTV surveillance is a component of the Smart Cities project of Coimbatore. The special purpose vehicle to be formed for the project will co-ordinate with several Governmental agencies (traffic police, highways and Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board) to implement it. It will study the systems already in place in some of the western countries and also in Mumbai and Surat.
“Given that Coimbatore shares the industrial and entrepreneurial culture of Surat, the Corporation here sees possibilities to replicate this experience,” says the proposal.
The Smart Cities project plans to have 52 stand-alone CCTVs and 60 inter-linked systems as part of the project and complete it by March 2019.
Meanwhile, the city police have commenced work on a surveillance system by roping in corporates.
“To ensure safety and security in Coimbatore, we have 12 check posts bordering the city which are under constant vigilance of the local police and Central Reserve Police Force. We are now working to upgrade the city surveillance system, of which 50 percent of the process is already done and functioning of the same will commence very soon,” says R. Sivakumar, Deputy Commissioner (Traffic) of the city police.
As part of the project more than 200 high quality Internet Protocol (IP) cameras have been installed at 53 traffic signals in the city. These cameras and nearly 3000 other road facing CCTV cameras installed at commercial establishments in the city will be integrated with a modern control room proposed. Work is underway to monitor the entire city under a single roof with real-time inputs and data back up facilities.
“Technology, with its vast benefits, should be used as a tool to create safer cities for all. The city surveillance initiative will surely act as a strong deterrent for miscreants at public places, because when people know they are being watched they usually behave themselves. Many women we spoke to have expressed their joy on such initiatives as they feel they are not alone, especially at secluded places,” says Preeti Chauhan, co-founder of New Delhi-based Aware Citizen Foundation.
V.K. Sabarivas of a Chennai-based NGO, Thozhan, says, “Installation of surveillance camera will also help in strict regulation of traffic rules, which in turn, will bring down the number of accidents in the country to a very large extent.”
However, “There is also a fair chance for this round-the-clock monitoring to be misused and it might infringe on a person’s privacy. While implementing these smart safety plans, efforts should be taken to protect the privacy of the citizens,” says R. Mabel Lizzy, a research scholar from Bharathiar University.