Smart City centre turned into Covid-19 war room

Through the 350 closed-circuit television cameras (CCTVs), the police are keeping an eye on vehicular movement and gathering of people at sensitive locations, including some containment zones. The district has nine containment zones.

The Gurugram police has started using the Integrated Control And Command Centre (I-CCC)—developed by the GMDA under the smart cities mission so that technology could be used for more efficient management of utilities—as a designated war room for Covid-19 surveillance, monitoring the movement of people and supplies, its distribution, and maintaining law and order, the police said.

Police said that through the war room they were keeping a close watch on all traffic junctions and vehicles on the road to ensure no violation takes places. (Yogendra Kumar/HT PHOTO)

Through the 350 closed-circuit television cameras (CCTVs), the police are keeping an eye on vehicular movement and gathering of people at sensitive locations, including some containment zones. The district has nine containment zones.

All containment zones are not connected to the I-CCC as cameras were yet to be installed, the police said.

The I-CCC is mainly being used to ensure social distancing in crowded areas such as Chakkarpur, Jharsa, Nathupur, Sadar market, Sohna Road, Wazirabad, Khanda Mandi, Mohammadpur Jharsa and places with higher population density.

The war room is also being used for tracking people under quarantine and suspected cases, said police. The teams are also coordinating with the district administration and health teams for doing real-time tracking of ambulances and disinfection services.

“We are using wireless phones to pass on messages. A daily record is maintained which is sent to the commissioner of police. We are also checking of anyone is misusing the passes issued and loitering,” said Chander Mohan, DCP (East) who is also the chief executive officer, mobility.

Police commissioner Muhammad Akil said another prime focus of the centre is to track the movement of food supply and to check if it is being delivered at the right places.

“Our call centre (100, 112, 0124-2316100, 1091 and 1098) is operational and most of the calls we receive are for supply of food and ration. We are taking serious note of all calls and a rescue team is being sent to the spot from where the call is received. Many people in distress are reaching out to these helplines to check the symptoms of coronavirus,” he said.

The I-CCC also helps monitor whether the police personnel deployed across the city are conducting checks properly, Mohan said.

“It is important to keep a check on the police working as they have to check each vehicle before allowing them to cross a checkpost. We monitor each vehicle and take down their registration number and if we find any suspicious activity we immediately report to concerned SHO or duty officer of that area,” the DCP said.

Police said that through the war room they were keeping a close watch on all traffic junctions and vehicles on the road to ensure no violation takes places.

Mohan said that there are 350 cameras and locations which are tracked by them round-the-clock. “A team of 12 police personnel is working in eight-hour shifts. They are coordinating with all the station house officers and traffic inspectors to ensure better functioning across the city,” he said.

He said that a team was also in touch with the Delhi Police to update them about the situation in areas close to the border so that if any group is seen walking or rushing of vehicles towards the border, they are informed well in advance.

I-CCC is a single dashboard system and as many as 12 operators are working on it at any point of time with a team of 10 additional people who refer complaints to the officials concerned, within seconds after the system displays it.

Two technical members of NIC are also deployed in the centre for any technical support if required, said police.

The I-CCC, which was created for improved efficiency of various departments (water, electricity, parking, streetlights, agriculture, sewerage, roads, garbage disposal, traffic, crime tracking, GIS mapping), earlier synchronized with the centre, are currently on hold and all the focus is on the ground situation during the lockdown.