Cities

Axis video surveillance helps Kolhapur become a Safer City

Organization: Kolhapur Municipal Corporation

Location: Kolhapur, India

Customer need: Traffic management, Public safety, Incident detection, Remote monitoring

Kolhapur, India, 2016

Smart, connected solution enable real-time tracking of crimes, better governance and civic administration.

Mission

Kolhapur, known as a city of palaces and gardens, is a historic Maratha city. Located close to Mumbai, it is rapidly becoming a major tourist attraction. The need to address various concerns of crime management, traffic control and planning, better governance and efficient disaster management was recognized early by the Kolhapur Municipal Corporation. The requirement of an efficient and integrated security surveillance system was the need of the hour. This would enable the Kolhapur Police and the civic authorities to reduce the possibilities of a security threat and ensure better safety across the city.

Solution

A smart solution was provided that could observe all entry/exit points, traffic junctions and important tourist attractions around the clock. The plan was to transform Kolhapur into a safe city project and ensure quicker response times and faster access to evidence in case of law violations. In Kolhapur (area of 66.82 km), an installation at 65 locations was made with 165 network cameras. These include 116 fixed cameras, 17 PTZ cameras and 32 panoramic cameras.

Result

The solution has been successful in ensuring the safety and security of Kolhapur, making it into a smart, connected city. It has helped law enforcement authorities to better manage traffic, for real-time tracking of crimes and has enabled better governance and civic administration. The Axis surveillance solution has also been able to help the police monitor festivals and man VIP movement in the city and build a security net for its citizens. Petty incidents like traffic violations and theft will not pose a serious challenge to the authorities as they can always refer to video footage.

Implementation

The Kolhapur Municipal Corporation (KMC) project was executed under the able guidance of advisory consultant Mr. D. Sivanandhan, IPS rtd. (Former CP, Mumbai and DGP, Maharashtra) and leadership of current SP Mr. Pradeep Deshpande, KMC commissioner and Mr. P. Siva Shankar. Due to the continuous monitoring of city engineer Mr. Netradeep Sarnobat, the project was implemented successfully, however initial conceptualization was made by then SP Dr. Manoj Kumar Sharma, now DCP Zone -1 Mumbai police.

Pole-camera on street corner in Kolhapur

Smart monitoring and future vision

Overall, Kolhapur Municipal Corporation and Kolhapur Police have not only succeeded in securing the residents, but also in improving the city’s civic situation and administration. It has assisted the local bodies to monitor law and order during processions, VIP movements and festivals and also improved the overall operational efficiency and reduce manual intervention. The cameras are viewed at the Command and Control Room on 12 (42 inch) LED Monitors. All these camera feeds which are viewed on the LED display are stored in the server storage. Further two client workstations have been provided to control all the cameras at the control room.

The solution also included:

Efficient backbone design by using, 24/12/6 core OFC Ring Topology which provides (85% - 90%) Path Redundancy thereby providing high uptime even after cable breaks due to natural calamity or accidents
Industrial Grade Switches have been used at the field sites (up to 75C) thus giving workability in very rough conditions to withstand high temperatures and dusty environments
Network Management Software for monitoring, critical routes rope wire will be used for less anticipated breakages and maintenance at junctions where KMC ducks are used – leading to huge savings in cost

I found that the quality and speed of implementation of CCTV project both are excellent. The integrated surveillance system has helped to increase the Police efficiency and ensure better safety and security for our citizens.

K. P. Bakshi

IAS, Additional Chief Secretary (Homes), Maharashtra Mantralaya, Mumbai.

The next phase

There are plans of implementing the next phase of the project which will include E-Challan/M-Challan, Dial 100, Intelligent Traffic Management System, Flood Sensors and Seismic Sensors, Face recognition, License plate recognition, Police m-Beat System, Integration of all the above with C-Cube (Command, Control and Communication Center).

Deterrence of crime

The Kolhapur Smart City project uses enhanced and high definition cameras which can monitor the city round the clock. Manually managing and controlling traffic posed serious challenges to local policemen in the past and this has been duly corrected with alarms. The SOP’s are available in Marathi which has also helped the operators to adapt quickly and integrate with the system.

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