Aurangabad:
The Aurangabad Smart City Development Corporation Limited (ASCDCL) claims that 450 loudspeakers installed by it at 400 squares and circles in the city are yielding good results and proving an effective tool to maintain law and order situation in the city.
Earlier, the ASCDCL under the Safe City project had spent Rs 175 crore on the installation of 750 CCTV cameras and squares, four years ago. This CCTV surveillance network is attached to the Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) set up at the office of the Commissioner of Police and the ASCDCL headquarters. The attendant on duty on viewing traffic congestion on important roads on ICCC screen raises an alarm through loudspeaker telling the irresponsible driver of an autorickshaw or any vehicle to remove. The parking of vehicles in the wrong way leads to traffic congestion. On hearing the alert message on loudspeakers, the autorickshaw drivers immediately leave the spot with their vehicles.
Traffic congestion and bottlenecks have become a common scene on many important roads in the city due to irresponsible parking of vehicles. Hence to maintain the smooth flow of traffic and discipline, first, CCTV cameras were installed and then loudspeakers have been fixed.
The project manager Faiz Ali gave a demonstration of the new venture. He mentioned that four days ago, the scene of beating youths in Cannaught Market was captured on the CCTV cameras. The footage proved important for the police in their investigation. CCTV has also proved fruitful in resolving many accident cases. Moreover, the cases of snatching mangalsutras from main roads have been reduced. Meanwhile, the ASCDCL identified 400 spots which are close to the previously fixed CCTV cameras on important roads. The alerts through loudspeakers could be given from the ICCC at the Smart City and the CP offices.