Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru (MS)

Mangaluru, Dec 12: The Congress has accused that the CCTV cameras that are installed in the city for security themselves are a threat. It is learnt that these China-made CCTV cameras will be posing a huge danger.

Security threat accusation is made against the Smart City project. The Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) has installed Hikvision brand CCTV cameras in the city. This company is of China origin. However, the CCTV cameras of this company are banned in many countries including USA and UK citing internal security threat to the nation. The ban is imposed on the basis of Personal data theft and confidential information theft. In India also in government tenders there is a ban on procuring Hikvision brand CCTV cameras. The reason is that the government of China has a share in Hikvision.

The Congress has raised objections to the use of Chinese made goods, even when the country is facing a border threat from China. Congress says that the Hikvision cameras are installed as the company pays a hefty commission. These cameras are installed under the command control centre project.

First phase of City Command Control Centre project is completed at a cost of Rs 23 crore. Preparations are being made to implement the second phase at a cost of Rs 32 crore. The MCC has plans of buying Hikvision and Dahua brands of China again. However, Congress has raised objections.

Six companies have participated in the tender process of the second phase of the command control center project. They are Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation (Keltan Ltd), Madras Securities Printer Private Limited, CMS computer limited, Matrix security and surveillance private limited, ITI limited and Technosis Cellulitis System Private Limited. Out of this Madras Cellularity company and CMS company are termed as ineligible. CMS company is in fact the doyen of Command control centres implementation in India. This company has foreign technology from the world renowned Siemens company.

CMS has already installed command control centre systems in major cities like Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Baroda. ITI limited (government undertaking) is kept out as its bid was quite high. Matrix company was rated as top company in technical bid but was denied the tender due to high bidding. BPC Series Pvt Ltd company is selected as eligible company in the bidding. However, this company is already black listed as it failed in implementing similar projects in cities like Bhopal and Ghaziabad. However, the Nice and Sone company, which is the consultant company of BPC, is putting pressure on Smart City officials to give the contract to BPC. The Congress says that this company also offers high commission.