Police control room powerless for 2 hrs

The main control room of Mumbai police was plunged in darkness with its systems down for more than two hours on Friday evening.

The main control room of Mumbai police was plunged in darkness with its systems down for more than two hours on Friday evening.

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This was due to a power failure resulting from a short circuit.

According to sources at the control room, located in the commissionerate compound at Crawford Market, at 7.30pm power at the office of the commissioner of the police and the control room went off and they had to switch off the system.

“I left the control room at 8.00 pm and by then power had not resumed,” said a police officer from the control room.

The control room connects the commissioner’s office with the 86 police stations across the city and also receives distress and emergency calls.

“The systems had to be switched off and the control room stopped receiving any calls and processing them.”

Manoj Bhoir, Deputy Commissioner of Police DCP (operations) said the power had been cut off due to a short circuit.

When asked the reason for the police headquarters not having a back up, Bhoir said: “The systems in the control room run on electricity and when the current went off we had to shut all the computer systems.”

On the current shut down effecting crucial data stored in the systems, Bhoir said they had asked the BEST to fix the problem.

“After BEST restores electricity we will look for providing the systems with a back up,” added Bhoir.

Meanwhile, A.S. Tamboli, PRO BEST said the problem occurred due to a cable fault at LT Marg.