For want of Rs15cr, police’s control centre for CCTVs lying idle

Nagpur: One of the salient components of the Smart City Project, the Command and Control Centre (CCC) was set up with an expenditure of around Rs51 crore for the police department to control crime and traffic related violations using CCTVs installed across the city. But the centre is lying idle for the last four months for want of just Rs15 crore.
Instead of readying the CCC, Smart City special purpose vehicle, Nagpur Smart and Sustainable City Development Corporation Limited (NSSCDCL) has earmarked Rs40 crore for garbage transfer stations, a project which was later revised to bio-mining of garbage though not a part of Smart City project. Public representatives and officials have locked horns over the issue.
The works on CCC were supposed to be completed in November 2017. After a visit to CCC being constructed on premises of Police Control Room in Civil Lines, it came to fore that even some interior civil works are yet to complete. All types of heavy machineries for storage, operation, cables, and video wall with 32 screens are yet to be installed.
CCC is part of the Rs520 crore Safe and Smart City Project which was the first component of Smart City Project. It was approved in 2016 by the then chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. L&T was awarded the project on October 18, 2016, with a deadline of one year followed by operation and maintenance (O&M) for five years.
Sources in NSSCDCL told TOI that Rs40 crore were spent on procuring machineries. A few software are in use at City Operation Centre (COC) developed at NMC Head Office and remaining lying idle for over a year.
“Project got delayed due to lack of funds for construction of CCC builiding. State-run Maha IT which planned the project had sanctioned an additional amount of Rs 10.42 crore for G+2 floor building and deadline was March 1, 2020. But Rs 15 crore more are needed for completing civil works and O&M for 5 years,” sources said.
The central government had sanctioned Rs7 crore for Smart Solid Waste Management Solutions under Smart City Project. NSSCDCL had spent around Rs2 crore for bins etc.
NSSCDCL earned interest of Rs35 crore on funds unutilized for long-time. Instead of giving this money for completion of CCC, the NSSCDCL proposed development of five garbage transfer stations at the cost of Rs40 crore in 2019. Municipal commissioner Tukaram Mundhe later diverted the funds for bio-mining of garbage.
It is one of major reasons behind union minister Nitin Gadkari and mayor Sandip Joshi up in arms against Mundhe. The tender is incomplete and supposed to be scrapped following technical issues.
Despite availability of funds, NSSCDCL is pursuing funds of Rs15 crore for completion of CCC with Maha IT.
Also, NSSCDCL as per suggestion of police department had proposed to develop artificial intelligence (AI) to detect traffic violations. But traffic cops have been detecting violations sitting before a video wall at COC for the last two years.
As per police department’s suggestions, NSSCDCL also proposed to install 3,000 more CCTVs and increase storage capacity from 15 days to 90 days.
NSSCDCL chairman Pravin Pardeshi said, “I had spoken to Maha IT secretary. We will resolve these issues and ensure all works are back on track within a month.”