A secure and connected city
Aam Aadmi Party's zeal to make Delhi the best city got a boost on Thursday when the Delhi Cabinet approved two key proposals aligned to improve the city's technical infrastructure. Installing 1.4 lakh more CCTV cameras along with access to free WiFi services across the National Capital will definitely put Delhi in a class of its own when it comes to modern cities of India. Installing nearly 3 lakh closer circuit television cameras at one go is a great push for making the city safer for Women as well as preventing daylight crime incidents that have been reported in recent times. AAP's key steps to ensure city-wide WiFi access goes back to their poll promises in 2015 when they registered a thumping victory in the state assembly elections, winning 67 of 70 seats. Delhi has been cherishing this pro-incumbency wave that has provided it with a host of facilities as promised then by Aam Aadmi Party chief and current Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. The city-wide WiFi access will be done through 11,000 hotspots in the first phase of the project implementation. Tenders for appointing service providers will be floated soon and people can have access to free WiFi within three or four months. Kejriwal announced that every user will be getting up to 15 GB of data for free which is indeed a single-biggest achievement by a government in the world. The first phase will require maximum preparation for precise implementation so that in the following phases, gaps are filled and technical hiccups, if any, are removed. Delhi is a huge city with a lot of residential clusters spanning over the entire city. While mobile data has become a common norm in this data-driven age with apps flooding the market and a huge number of transactions happening over the internet, there is a cap for mobile data which is more often than not reached and therefore, the need for WiFi exists even in the cheap mobile data market. In fact, the impetus to provide free data up to 15 GB comes from the cheap mobile data rates which have stormed the market and been the case for three years now; Reliance Jio revolutionalised the data market altogether. Kejriwal elaborated on the plan for free WiFi access to people wherein the 70 constituencies of Delhi will have 7,000 hotspots spread across Assembly segments while remaining 4,000 will be set up at bus shelters. Each WiFi hotspot will provide 200 MBPS internet speed and cater to around 200 people within a 50-metre radius. It is here that the government plans to connect these hotspots with CCTV cameras which will ensure a high-functioning capacity for both cameras and WiFi. The move will make Delhi more connected than ever and people can avail internet services through free WiFi on top of their personal mobile data capacity. AAP's ambitious plan of providing city-wide free WiFi will aid in connecting Delhi to the internet around the clock. And, just as data is important for modern times, so is security and safety for which the ambitious project of installing 2.8 lakh CCTVs in the city is on the agenda. While 1.4 lakh cameras are being installed with 2,000 per constituency division, the Delhi government got approval for another 1.4 lakh cameras which means as many as 4,000 per constituency might be the order. This will help in heightened vigilance across the city to ensure women safety and act as a deterrent to a rising graph of crime on the streets. Already, a lot of cameras have been put up at important cross-sections and roads which have begun vigilance. These cameras will aid the police in narrowing down perpetrators as well as keep track of movements across the city. Both proposals, when materialised, will tremendously benefit the city, making it safe and accessible. With the advent of more and more application-based services, the step to provide WiFi with 15 GB free data is one that will augur really well for the residents while the network of cameras will ensure sound security in times when rapes, murders, burglary and a lot of other crimes are on the rise in the capital city.
