In a bid to give cutting edge to policing in the city, a proposal has been mooted to integrate CCTV cameras with artificial intelligence (AI). L&T, that has put up 3,600 cameras at vantage points, is tasked by Nagpur Smart and Sustainable City Development Corporation Limited to submit a report about integrating AI in the CCTV camera network. The officials privy to details of the project said that idea is to make effective use of the CCTV cameras network keeping in mind the emerging challenges on crime control front. Apart from that it could also come in handy in preparing techniques for smart planning for future growth of the city and for effective traffic management.
The immediate benefit of using AI would be felt on the traffic control front effectively. Ever rising number of vehicles and growing impatience among citizens has increased violations that cops are finding difficult to curb. With AI in place, the cameras would single out repeated violators and for the law enforcement agency this would be a big help in cracking down on erring citizens. Now, cops are required to monitor each beamed image and then generate an e-challan and it has become cumbersome due to scant regard to basic traffic rules in the city. Hence the use of AI with CCTV cameras installed all over the city can come handy in generating e-challans and ensure faster compliance.
This could be a game changer and help in better monitoring of traffic movement especially during peak hours. It would immediately issue alerts to City Operation Centre (CoC) which would help to reduce the burden of real-time surveillance of all the cameras in the city. If someone is noted to have violated the norms the camera would capture the image and immediately process the e-challan, the officials further pointed out. One of the best aspects of the technology is it does not require manpower for operations. Currently, traffic police are manually checking the cameras to issue e-challans.
After integration of AI the number of e-challans per day would increase substantially and that could put citizens in a spot and can also bring about much needed discipline among them. The City came under CCTV surveillance last year and the project was rolled out by L&T itself. An initiative of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, L&T was awarded the project on October 18, 2016. The project is the nation’s first large scale integrated Smart City Project with dedicated fibre and a unique Smart Strip Concept.
