City to have integrated command centre to oversee traffic, security arrangements

SHILLONG:

Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, on August 25, said that the government will soon inaugurate the Integrated Command Center for Shillong which is part of the Smart City Project equipped with over 300 CCTVs to monitor security and traffic arrangements.

Speaking at the 24×7.ai CSR function at Shillong Technology Park, he said that the Centre “will be monitoring the entire security arrangements, traffic arrangements and all of these aspects through almost close to 300 CCTVs across the city and then further the other towns will be connected to it and this will be a complete Integrated Command Centre and we are hopeful that the work will be completed soon.”

Besides, the chief minister also said that the government will soon roll out the IT policy which will benefit investors and create employment opportunities in the state.

He said investors will be provided incentives in terms of capital investment, GST and electricity tariff, among others, under the policy.

“We are on the verge of announcing the IT policy. It has taken us about a year’s time, and we had elections in between. We are waiting for the final comments from the Industries Department, and within a couple of weeks, maximum of three weeks, we will roll out the IT policy,” he said.

He stressed on the importance and the opportunity that the IT sector will provide for the state because of the manpower available.

Under the CM-ELEVATE program, the state government plans to provide financial support to 20,000 startups and businesses, including those in the IT sector, in the future, Sangma said.

“We feel the government should provide subsidies to such industries that give direct benefit to our people in terms of employment, rather than giving benefits to large industries that do not give us the returns and are not productive enough,” he added.

Stating that the work for Shillong Data Centre is under way, the chief minister hoped that work on it will start within this financial year.

He said that the government will be starting the Tech Park in Tura very soon.

The chief minister said that the government is working towards improving the overall connectivity in the state through optical fiber.

Sangma said that along with Meghalaya Electricity Corporation Limited (MeECL) a national agency will work on having optical fibre throughout the state within a month or so.

The chief minister said 1,000 new mobile towers are being installed across the state, besides the fibre optic line from Chittagong in Bangladesh to Guwahati in Assam via Meghalaya.

In this connection, he said that discussion is on with the government of Assam and the partners in Bangladesh.

“If this happens, this will benefit us as it will lower the costs and improve the quality of data,” he said

Sangma said that he would like to see BPOs not as business people and not as individuals who come to the state for the opportunities that are present but as partners in the growth of the state.