The general body of the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has cleared a proposal to install 1,439 CCTV cameras across the city. The corporation will also upgrade and replace the existing 282 cameras installed in 2013. The much-delayed ₹154-crore proposal was tabled in the general body meeting. The proposal was prepared after a joint survey conducted by the Navi Mumbai Police and NMMC.
The NMMC plans to put up fixed-point high definition (HD) and high speed (HS) cameras at the six entry and exit points of the city: Airoli-Mulund creek bridge, Thane-Digha entry point, Shilphata junction, Vashi toll plaza, Kille Gaothan and Belpada. Since the existing CCTV cameras have become outdated, the NMMC will install cameras with the latest technology.
Cameras at around 54 locations will have the automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) facility. “The ANPR feature will help us quickly identify any wanted vehicle that we are looking for. Usually, scanning footage and identifying a particular vehicle consumes a lot of time. With special features, it will be easy for us in investigations,” an officer from the Navi Mumbai Police Crime Branch said.
Around 27 main junctions will have HD and HS cameras, while panic alarm and call boxes will be put up at 43 locations, and public announcement systems at 126 places. “In case of an emergency, citizens can use the panic alarm or the call box to connect with the control room immediately,” an officer from the NMMC said. A total of 154 HD cameras will be installed across the city.
The CCTV feed will go to the control room at Navi Mumbai Police commissionerate, the main control room at the NMMC headquarters, and eight smaller control rooms the civic body aims to set up. Around 396 pan tilt zoom (PTZ) cameras will be installed at main junctions and key places like railway stations, markets, bus depot, gardens, religious places, public places, chowks, NMMC offices, hospitals and schools. “These cameras enable us to have a better look at the situation on the ground, remotely from the control room,” an officer attached to the Navi Mumbai control room said. Key junctions and roads including Palm Beach Road, Sion-Panvel Highway and Thane-Belapur Road will have 80 HS cameras, while nine thermal cameras will be put up along the 22-km creek and in coastal areas.
