Meghalaya govt inaugurates high-tech command centre for Shillong’s Smart City project

Shillong, Nov 21: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Wednesday inaugurated the Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) for the 96 city surveillance system with smart poles and variable message displays at Umsawli.

The ICCC is a component of the Smart City project. As part of the project, smart poles with surveillance cameras and public address systems have been installed in 20 locations of the state capital. Similarly, there are 20 locations where the message displays have been installed. Some of the major highlights of the ICCC are a monitoring workstation and a data centre, which can monitor the city. It can be used for video analytics, traffic and solid waste management, Wi-Fi, public addresses, street lighting, emergency calls, and similar facilities.

"This is a platform that can connect different activities through use of technology and can assist in making right and timely decisions," Sangma said during the inauguration ceremony.

He urged departments like IT, Urban, Police, and Municipality to collaborate and formulate standard operating

procedures and protocols so that the technology can be used for the improvement of Shillong city.

Work is on to lay optical fibre in every block and district so that these can be connected to the ICCC. "We are also working to lay the submarine cables in Shillong, and our goal is to connect every block and every district in a complete IT network," Sangma said.

All these efforts will bring out the best in government functioning and enable it to govern in a smarter manner, the Chief Minister stated. On the card is integration of the ICCC with towns like Tura, Jowai, and others.

"A city can only be smart when all work together not only to make it a smart city but a great city," the Chief Minister added.