As part of its smart city initiative, City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) is installing hotline devices at public places for people in trouble to contact the police in their area for a quick response.
This is a first-of-its-kind effort in the State, formulated by CIDCO and the Navi Mumbai police to prevent crime and to secure citizens besides keeping vigil across the city.
The device, called an ‘emergency call box’ or ECB, is connected directly to CIDCO’s command centre above Belapur railway station. It can be operated at the press of a button. Once the green light is on, the caller needs to speak to the operator and register a complaint.
“Through such high-tech devices, citizens can report crime in progress, fire, medical emergency or threat to personal safety. This can also be used by beat marshals or patrolling officials to report their position, status and also call for additional backup during emergency situations,” said Assistant Commissioner of Police (Wireless) Pradeep Kannalu.
As part of the Smart City initiative, public address systems are also being installed at strategic points for better policing in the city.
Plans are on to install 10 such ECBs and 20 public address systems (PAS) across CIDCO’s jurisdiction.
Two ECBs and PASes have been already installed at Kharghar node near Hiranandani complex and Central Park where people can contact the police helpline at the press of a button in case of emergency.
“The public address system is for effective communication of live and pre-recorded messaging. It generates an automatic response for any crowd to pay attention to the voice being broadcast over the system. This will give a leverage to the police for making important announcements during festivals like Ganeshostav, Navratri, etc., and for crowd control besides announcement of safety instructions,” said ACP Kannalu.
Recently, Navi Mumbai Joint Commissioner of Police Madhukar Pandey inaugurated the CIDCO closed circuit television command centre above Belapur railway station. To begin with, 124 CCTVs have been installed at public places in Kharghar. By the end of this year, more CCTVs will be installed in other areas like Kamothe, Panvel, New Panvel, Ulwe, Dronagiri, Uran and Nhava Sheva to bring South Navi Mumbai under CCTV surveillance. The city police have suggested installation of 574 cameras at 293 locations in Zone II.
The cost of equipping South Navi Mumbai with CCTV surveillance is expected to be Rs. 108 crore. So far Rs. 24 crore has been spent. The rest of the project is likely to be completed by January 2017.
The writer is a freelance journalist
