Firm Proposes 'Safe City' Project

BENGALURU: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of setting up smart cities across the country appears to be taking shape. A Bengaluru-based company, in collaboration with a Russian firm, has come out with a ‘Safe City’ project that aims to ensure rapid reaction to terror threats.

Under the project, envisioned by city-based Alpha Design Technologies and Russia’s RTEC, sensors, including sound locators, and cameras will be set up at different parts of the city and whenever an emergency is detected, the information will be relayed to a command centre, which in turn will decide the future course of action.

Similar initiatives have already been taken up in Russian cities like Moscow, St Petersburg, Sochi and Krasnoyarsk.

Krishna Gopal, of Alpha Design Technologies, told Express, “In case of a threat, normally, it takes time to ascertain what exactly happened, and in case of an infiltration, one will not know who is responsible. But with the Safe City initiative, sensors will capture everything and send data to one of the many mobile command centres, which will have experts. For instance, if a terrorist has to be identified, the moment he or she passes through the camera’s range, the location of the person can be picked up. Or if there is a gunshot, a sound sensor can ascertain the exact location.”

When asked if the company has proposed this project to the state government for study and implementation, Gopal said it would be difficult to implement the project on such a large scale.

“Our technology can be used by infrastructure majors when they construct large structures and buildings. We will not be able to implement it on a large scale,” he said. However, the company’s MD Col (retd) H S Shankar said the idea has been pitched to local administrations in New Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and Ahmedabad, and the response has been tremendous. “It is imperative to have such a concept in cities, especially in  malls and movie theatres, where a large number of people congregate,” he said.