By Our Correspondent in Bhubaneswar, February 6, 2015 :

The state capital here is going hi-tech. Some 350 Close Circuit Television (CCTV) will now keep vigil over the main areas of the city in three phases at a total cost of Rs 23 crore.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday inaugurated a CCTV surveillance project, the first of its kind in Odisha, at the Commissionerate police headquarter office here.

Speaking on the occasion, the CM said the surveillance would bring about the collaboration of the best tools of technology to aid day-to-day policing.

“Our Government is dedicated towards making optimum use of technology in all spheres of governance and policing is an essential part of it,” Mr Patnaik said.

The state-of-the-art modern control room which has come up in the Commissionerate building here will function as a unified command to control CCTV installed and cameras fitted in police control room (PCR) vans.

The entire project covering CCTV cameras at 90 locations would have more than 350 cameras installed at different locations in the city and a control room to operate these with video wall facilities.

Commissioner of Police (CP) Dr Rajendra Prasad Sharma said a total of 114 CCTV cameras had been installed at about 28 strategic locations in the city, including major junction like AG Crossing, Master Canteen square, Rajmahal Crossing, Lower PMG, Kalinga Hospital square, Airport Crossing, Governor House, Naveen Niwas and near Rabindra Mandap.

Commissionerate police handed over the project to Odisha State Police Housing Cooperation (OSPHC), which hired US based Honeywell to execute the project at a cost of Rs 23 crore.

Among the salient features of the project are the fixing of CCTV cameras in all 33 Police Control Room [PCR] vans for mobile surveillance and unified control room with video wall for monitoring and supervising the system from one location, the Commissioner said.

This apart, the police will follow a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for flawless and smooth management of the CCTV surveillance. The system will help police in improving police response in crisis situation, enhance security in the city, law and order management, traffic control, law Enforcement and video analysis to arrest crime.

“We are also studying the best use of the system in some cities like Delhi, Bangalore and Surat in checking criminal activities,” he said.

Installation of special cameras at AG square with use of Red Light Violation Detection (RLVD) and Automatic Number Plate detection (ANPD) devices will correctly locate traffic violators and help punish them, he added.

The first phase was completed successfully with proper coordination from departments like Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), BSNL, Roads and buildings and others.