Editor, Goemkarponn
AERIAL VIEW
This facility came at a a whopping cost of Rs 214.2 crore and was supposed help control city lighting, solid waste management, traffic violations, and crimes.
But who knew, at a cost of Rs 214 cr what we got was just dummy 300+ cameras, which can be purchased in retail market for just Rs 100 each.
Interestingly, the Goa Intelligent City Management
System (GICMS), has been set up by L&T as part of the Smart City Mission.
The IPSCDL had said the facility will function 24×7 and will serve as a control room during critical events, particularly for disaster management, as it can keep a watch not just on Panaji but also on Old Goa, Porvorim, Bambolim, Dona Paula, and even Pilar.
SURAJ NANDREKAR
Editor, Goemkarponn
By now, every Goan knows that the Smart City works in Panaji Goa is full of corruption but the revealation that came to the fore on Monday has shocked everyone.
What is shocking here in on April 22, the long-awaited integrated command and control centre (ICCC) with a video wall was commissioned at Altinho, and, backed by a network of 382 CCTV cameras.
The IPSCDL had said the authorities will be able to keep a hawk’s eye on the state capital.
This facility came at a a whopping cost of Rs 214.2 crore and was supposed help control city lighting, solid waste management, traffic violations, and crimes.
But who knew, at a cost of Rs 214 cr what we got was just dummy 300+ cameras, which can be purchased in retail market for just Rs 100 each.
Interestingly, the Goa Intelligent City Management
System (GICMS), has been set up by L&T as part of the Smart City Mission.
The IPSCDL had said the facility will function 24×7 and will serve as a control room during critical events, particularly for disaster management, as it can keep a watch not just on Panaji but also on Old Goa, Porvorim, Bambolim, Dona Paula, and even Pilar.
The Goa Police which was banking on critical evidence on child abandon case at Miramar, were left high and dry after knowing the CCTVs were non-functional.
The DGP Goa Jaspal Singhw as the first to praise the CCTVs and ICCC saying “I think we would be the greatest beneficiary because it would be working for us as a force multiplier.”
He had said that “With the commissioning of this project, sitting in the control room, our cops would be able to monitor the traffic scenario, law and order, and in case of any accident, that would be captured in real time.”
One wonders has the cops not monitred the CCTVs even once in last 8 months? Did they not know they weren’t working?
Imagine Panaji Smart City Development
Limited (IPSCDL), the nodal agency set up to implement the Smart City Mission, which has been trailing behind in the implementation of the mission’s projects needs to answer some tough questions – this is CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE.
Where have Rs 214 cr gone? The Smart City officials have to answer this.
Can anyone in the IPSCDL and the government please answer why are the CCTVs placed if there are no hard disks? How will the people trust IPSCDL?
We all know every work of the IPSCDL has been sub-standard but not in our wildest of dreams did we think the corruption had reached such a level where we would get dummy CCTVs installed.
Is this the Digital India our Prime Minister Narendra Modi talks. It’s high time the Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant intervenes and orders an inquiry into the matter.
Not only this, the guilty has to be punished.
Promises about CCTV cameras….
The high resolution cameras have facial and number plate recognition capabilities, and can automatically generate traffic violation challans.
If there is a law and order problem, it can be captured in real time and this system would also enable the police department to identify the person from the facial recognition system.
Let’s say 50 people have damaged something, those people would be captured and their faces can be identified with the help of facial recognition, which is part of the Smart City project.
L&T has also installed traffic signals at various junctions, which can be remotely-controlled based on traffic conditions. Goa police will have to decide when the traffic signals are put into use.
IT and tourism minister Rohan Khaunte said that the GICMS proiect could be expanded to cover popular beaches and tourist hotspots to help ensure the safety of tourists.
We are talking about putting cameras on the beaches, and so, whether we put up our own command and control centre room or we talk to the police and the Smart City team for integration, this can come up for discussion. This needs to be used to the maximum to make Goa safe and secure.
