CHENNAI: Youth Welfare and Sports Development Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin inaugurated the Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) at the MTC headquarters on Pallavan Salai on Tuesday.
“The control room, built at a cost of `4.72 crore, will be monitored round the clock.
When we receive an alert through the panic button, 60 seconds of visuals captured in a surveillance camera will be inspected from the mobile network video recorder (MNVR). Accordingly, the staff will alert the police control room,” said an official from MTC. If the SOS is received for medical or any other emergencies, the staff will alert the safety department of MTC or the health department, added the official.
The state’s first ICCC will monitor the surveillance cameras and other safety devices installed in 2,330 MTC buses, said sources. Each bus has been fitted with a GPS tracker, four panic buttons, three CCTVs and one MNVR.
The first phase of the scheme was launched in May 2022 with the installation of panic buttons in 500 buses. Under Nirbhaya Fund, Chennai, Mumbai and New Delhi and five other cities, were selected for establishing a quick response system to prevent crime against women in public places.
In 2017, the Union government ordered that all public transport vehicles should be fitted with GPS, CCTVs and panic buttons from April 2018. The plan of the transport commissionerate to set up a similar control room to monitor other public transport vehicles including cabs and autorickshaws in Chennai remains a non-starter. The city has 60,000 autorickshaws and 30,000 cabs.
A senior official from the transport department said, “Due to issues in the tendering process, plans of setting up a command centre to monitor cabs and other public transport has been delayed and the matter is being looked into.” The initiative proposed for the safety of women and children cost MTC `72.25 crore. The funds were granted by the Union and the State governments.