Delhi Lt. Governor VK Saxena has given a directive to the Delhi Police to operationalize the ‘Safe City Project’ , in an effort to curtail and prevent crimes against women in public places, by the month of August. This project has been funded by the Government of India with a cost of Rs 798 crore.
The project entails the installation of 10,582 CCTV cameras in public locations within Delhi. Command and control centres with video analytics and facial recognition systems, artificial intelligence, machine learning and other elements would be setup within police and district headquarters, as well as police stations. The project aims to make women feel safe and secure in public places with the help of the technology enabled surveillance system, 24×7 real-time video based analytics and an effective emergency response system with dedicated emergency response vehicles.
The survey for the installation of CCTV cameras, poles, and junction boxes, has been completed and installation has been commenced.
Additionally, the Lt. Governor has instructed to incorporate AI-based applications into the project to ensure real-time crowd assessment, providing notification to command and control centres in case of any anomalies and discrepancies which points towards any impending crime in the near-future.
It is important to remember that the ‘Safe City Project’ is a collaborative effort by the Ministry of Home Affairs, in conjunction with the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development, which was approved under the Nirbhaya Fund by the Delhi Police in their attempt to ensure the safety of women in public places.
VK Saxena, in his capacity as the Lt. Governor of Delhi, is playing a vital role in this project by not only expediting the process, but by also closely monitoring the progress of the project and issuing instructions to the respective authorities for the efficiency of the same.
The ‘Safe City Project’ will not only benefit women who visit public places, but it will also improve the safety measures for the citizens of Delhi in general, as the project covers many elements of Crimes Prevention and Quick Response.
