Lauding the work done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said the ‘Safe City Project’ was a cutting-edge security system in preventing and investigating crimes while also ensuring proper surveillance of public places.

Speaking at the launch of the ‘Safe City Project’, in Bengaluru, on Friday, Shah said, “Our government at the Centre is awake to the fact that modern safety and security require much more than mere policing. The ‘Safe City Project’, which is being (on a trial basis) in Bengaluru today, is a cutting-edge security system aimed at preventing and investigating crimes while maintaining surveillance at key public installations.” Shah said that the project aims to make the country’s police the best in the world.

Calling Bengaluru a ‘Tech City’, the Union Home minister that the ‘Safe City Project’ would make the police capable of meeting modern-day security challenges.

“This project would equip the police to meet the evolving security challenges of the future. Bengaluru is known widely as the ‘Tech City’ and criminals, here, also adapt to technology to evade detection. Hence, the police need to equip themselves and stay two steps ahead of the criminals,” Shah said.

He added that the Centre for Internet Security came up in Bengaluru in 2017 for the specific purpose of dealing with the evolving security challenges.

“PM Modi has undertaken many initiatives in this direction such as real-time reporting of cyber crimes, a national network of forensic labs, and assuring cyber hygiene and cyber awareness. In 2017, the Centre for Internet Security was established (in Bengaluru) to research on all the evolving cyber challenges,” the Union Home minister said.

“This initiative is being implemented in 8 cities on a trial basis and Bengaluru is one of them. As many as 4,100 security cameras have been installed and 8 drones mounted with cameras have also been procured,” he said.

Elaborating on the use of the ‘Safe City Project’ in Bengaluru, Shah said, “30 security islands have been created where anyone, with the mere push of a panic button, will be connected with the control room and the person sitting there will be able to see the distressed person as well as hear him. A PCR van will reach the person in a matter of minutes.”

He said only a fit and sensitive police force can serve people at its best.

“The technology used for the ‘Safe City Project’ is not only state-of-the-art but also 100 per cent indigenous,” he added.