CCTVs and safety islands: Bengaluru's 'Safe City' project hits March 2024 target

Bengaluru’s ‘Safe City’ project would be implemented by March 2024, a senior police officer said on Wednesday. Phase one of the project under the Union Home Ministry’s ‘Nirbhaya Fund’ was launched in March this year by Union Home Minister Amit Shah ahead of the Karnataka Assembly elections. 

Speaking to DH, K Santosh Babu, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) (Administration), Bengaluru, said phase two implementation is underway and on track to meet the 2024 deadline.

“The installations under the first phase are complete,” Babu told DH.

“We are already using it but the go-live – when the department completes the tests and agrees with the implementation – is expected by December this year,” he added. 

The contract for the project was bagged by Honeywell Automation India Limited for Rs 496.57 crore in 2021. The total cost is shared between the Centre and the state in a 60:40 ratio.

Under the project, 7,500 CCTV cameras in 3,000 key areas, 50 safety islands, 158 viewing centres and a command centre were planned. 

In phase one, 4,100 surveillance cameras, 30 safety islands, 96 viewing centres (88 in police stations and eight in DCP offices) and a command centre with eight drones equipped with cameras have been set up. “The rest are being installed in phase two,” Babu said. 

Old project scrapped

As the Safe City implementation began, the 800 surveillance cameras installed previously under the Mega City Policing (MCP) scheme became obsolete since the Annual Maintenance Contract (AMC) expired in April 2022, a police source said.

The AMC undertaken by the vendor Matrix expired initially in 2020 but was extended for two more years as Safe City was still in the works, the source added.

“The cameras and camera poles were auctioned to a private vendor as e-waste while the servers and systems would be redistributed throughout the department.” 

Interestingly, the police department had to launch an internal survey after the vendor complained of stolen batteries from the camera units in at least 10 locations.

“The old cameras would be removed fully in another 20 days,” the police source quoted previously said.