Bhubaneswar: The Smart City of Bhubaneswar from the early morning of Tuesday started keeping an eagle eye on the traffic at selected parts of the city through the use of advanced drone cameras to keep the erring motorists at bay.
After the formal launch of the advanced system in the city by Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Police Commissioner Sudanshu Sarangi, the full-fledged trials started Tuesday. Drone cameras were used to track the traffic from Rabindra Mandap to the Biju Patnaik International Airport.
The department has also planned to replicate the model of aerial surveillance in other parts of the city after examining the success of their first series of surveillance.
“After the launch of the aerial surveillance system through drones by the Commissioner, the field trial began Tuesday. It has been covering the stretch from Rabindra Mandap to Airport. It is covering important junctions like PMG Square, AG Square, Capital Hospital Square and other important points on this stretch,” Sagarika Nath, DCP (Traffic), Bhubaneswar, told Orissa POST.
Sagarika also said that the system would be extended to other parts of the city. According to the traffic department, the drone cameras come with an added advantage to monitor the activities and also have an upper hand in nabbing the violators.
“The drone cameras have the advantage of tracking things around 300 metres ahead besides other features like conventional methods of traffic surveillance. This system is also likely to help us nab the traffic violators who earlier could flee the spot,” said Sagarika.
Using drones for traffic management for the first time in the state was a flagship idea of the newly-appointed Police Commissioner who wanted to solve the traffic issue with modern technology. The Commissioner, during the launch of the system, had said that this would be used to observe traffic and pin down violators.
With the introduction of the advanced drone surveillance system to keep a tab on traffic, the smart city of Bhubaneswar has become one of the leading cities to use the technology in traffic management. Other cities like Bangalore have also tried such experiments of blending technology with governance.