PANAJI
The Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited (IPSCDL) on Friday said that the identification of a criminal in the theft at district court premises and reckless underage driver of Scorpio car involved in an accident at Caranzalem are among a long list of cases which were detected through CCTV cameras installed under its project.
The State, through the IPSCDL, implemented the Goa Intelligent City Management System (GICMS), bringing about a significant transformation in surveillance and monitoring of Panaji and its periphery, and parts of Porvorim.
As many as 328 cameras across these places are installed of which around 44 are pan-tilt zoom cameras while around 10 have facial recognition among other features. “These cameras are installed in Panaji, and Porvorim till O-Coqueiro and St Cruz, Pilar, Bambolim etc,” IPSCDL CEO and MD Mamu Hage said at the launch event, attended by Union Minister Shripad Naik, IT Minister Rohan Khaunte among others.
With the help of this advanced system, Hage said that police have been able to detect criminal cases and accidents in what is an appreciative move to a safer and more secure environment for the citizens.
“The accident wherein a Scorpio car collided with a Kadamba bus this week, and the theft in the Court premises were detected through our system. We are scaling the smart components of our project,” she added.
In the accident, the 17-year-old minor driver who sustained a hand fracture along with his father has been booked for the offense. The father, being the owner of the vehicle, is charged with allowing the vehicle to an underage unlicensed driver.
In the theft case, criminal lawyer Mujahidin Sheikh was traced within 48 hours after he escaped with the muddemal property (seized cash) from the Nazir section of the JMFC Court on January 31, 2023. He was identified and tracked to his home village in Valpoi after a thorough scrutiny of the CCTV cameras installed along the roads in the city and outside.
The GICMS is also equipped with features with the ability to catch red light violations and speed violations, as well as automatically detect number plates and facial recognition.
VIP movement and disaster response movement, etc are also covered under this project. These cutting-edge technologies have proven to be extremely effective in reducing crime rates and ensuring that traffic rules are being followed.
The installation of this system was however not without its challenges, according to Hage who is also the North District Collector. “After ups and downs, we finally overcame the challenges and were able to get it implemented,” she said, adding that work on this project started in 2018.
GICMS has also installed sensors and cameras to keep track of littering, pollution emissions, solid waste, and smart city lighting, along with WiFi hotspots in about 97 locations.
