TWO EYES FOR A CLOSER WATCH ON ROADS

MVD to have two control rooms for traffic rule enforcement in the district

Come March and Kochi district will take a giant step towards being a high-tech hub for traffic surveillance.

Work on the state-of-the-art control room that will monitor feeds from observation cameras being set up along the highway from Cherthala to Manjeshwaram is under way on the ground floor of the district civil station where the Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) used to conduct tests for learners’ licence. The work is progressing under the supervision of Deputy Transport Commissioner P.A. Sainudeen and Regional Transport Officer B.J. Antony. Transport Commissioner Rishi Raj Singh wants to open the control room by March-end.

At present, the control room functioning out of the Deputy Transport Commissioner’s office can accommodate only three officers at a time, which is inadequate to monitor footage streaming in from 42 surveillance cameras on the Cherthala-Mannuthy stretch and send out notices to road rules violators. It would be impossible to continue with the existing control room once cameras along the Mannuthy-Manjeshwaram stretch too get clicking.

The new control room coming up on 1,400 sq.ft area will have space for deploying ten officials on duty at a time. “The idea is to gradually have three shifts of ten officials each,” said Motor Vehicle Inspector in charge of the project in the district A. Naufal.

The technology takes MVD towards advanced traffic monitoring and enforcement of rules where direct contact with the motorists can be avoided. Once the installation of more than 150 surveillance cameras is complete, the department proposes to take digital enforcement of traffic rules beyond over-speeding and signal violation.

While the major control room to be set up by Keltron is a few months away, a mini-control room by a mobile phone service provider on the fifth floor of the civil station is all set to turn operational by the end of this month. MVD has permitted Airtel to mount surveillance cameras at three accident-prone junctions in the district and to set up a control room manned by MVD officials.

“Cameras have already been installed at Kundanoor junction near Vyttila, Madavana junction at Panangad, and Kariyad junction near the airport. Syncing of software with the central MVD server is likely to be complete shortly,” said Mr. Naufal.