AI to help track, maintain upkeep of 16 key stretches in Delhi

NEW DELHI: From checking thefts to monitoring late staff to alerting about broken footpaths, a model based on artificial intelligence (AI) is set to help the Public Works Department (PWD) keep watch over 41km of 16 road stretches, currently being revamped in the first phase of the streetscaping project.
"A dashboard will be created to give hourly reports if there are any changes to the existing road infrastructure. It will also provide us tasks required to be done," said an official.

"The need for AI was felt because there have been many instances in the past where a road was broken or there is water leakage, but as reports reached senior officers late, action was taken only after two-three days. AI will eliminate this delay and we will be able to take prompt action," he added.
If successful, the pilot project could be expanded to the second phase, he said.
According to officials of the streetscaping division, the AI model, combined with CCTV footage and physical logbooks of security guards and other workers, will give real-time reports of damages to roads and footpaths, discolouring of pavements and theft of items like decorative lights or steel sculptures.
AI will also monitor the working of staff hired by PWD to look after the roads. Uniforms of security guards, gardeners and labourers would be geo-tagged to allow PWD to keep an eye on their movements and detect lapses, if any.
Under the streetscaping project, PWD invested in exotic horticulture work along the central verges and roadsides. Expensive decorative lights and benches have also been installed, along with mild-steel sculptures. The department had observed thefts and encroachment on the roads, following which it deployed security guards on each stretch.
During this year's budget speech, finance minister Kailash Gahlot had claimed that building on the government's success under the streetscaping pilot project, Delhi's roads will present nothing less than international standards by the end of the next financial year.
PWD is looking to hire an agency for 10 years to maintain the roads and keep them clean and beautiful. It is likely the AI model will be used to monitor the agency's work and give reports to department officials.