Private consultant to oversee command and control centre

According to a Corporation official, the CCC would be set up at a cost of Rs 150 crore in Ripon Building premises. “The centre is an initiative under the smart city mission and it will synthesise data of various departments apart from disseminating predictive and real-time analytics leveraging Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data management,” the official said.

The centre would also include other projects like the smart signalling, intelligent transport system, disaster management, parking management system and city surveillance.

Explaining the rationale behind the decision of appointing a third-party consultant to oversee the CCC, the official said, “the project is a critical infrastructure for the city governance. So, it warrants a dedicated project monitoring unit for successful implementation.”

The private consultant would be paid Rs 3.75 crore to evaluate security compliances through ethical hacking services periodically as and when warranted. “Ethical hacking will help in upgrading the system to prevent hacking. The consultant will also give recommendations about the overall design, implementation plan and other aspects. They will also test the stability, accuracy and reliability of the system,” the officials said.

Meanwhile, the official clarified the controversies surrounding the award of work order to Keltron and said, “Keltron’s quotation was close to our project cost and the PSU has experience in setting up facilities based on Internet of Things. Other private companies quoted much more than our project cost.”

It is also learnt that the Keltron had started works by conducting field surveys to install traffic cameras and work for the centre is underway in Ripon Buildings.