A team of technology experts of BITS Hyderabad, IIT Mumbai and IIT Kharagpur, coordinated by Prof. Prasanta Sahu, has won Asian Development Bank’s grant of US$3.99 lakh (₹3.32 crore) to develop TUTEM — Technologies for Urban Transit to Enhance Mobility and Safe Accessibility.
The team had won a global contest amid stiff competition to bag the work and has been working in association with the Hyderabad Metro Rail MD N.V.S. Reddy to develop the technology solutions to enhance the last-mile security for the metro rail passengers which can also be replicated in other cities.
A maiden inception workshop of TUTEM was organised at BITS, Hyderabad campus where DGP Anjani Kumar had promised full support from the Police department to make the technology a success and to give confidence to commuters regarding safe travel in public transport.
Mr. Reddy said technology is not an end in itself, but a tool to solve the socio-economic problems of ordinary people and goaded the team to come up with implementable solutions. He also informed the audience that both the Police department and the metro rail authorities are working in tandem with a number of initiatives like CCTV surveillance systems etc., to make Hyderabad a safe city.
The MD explained about Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s plan to expand metro rail operations to different parts of the city and its outskirts to make Hyderabad a safe and globally competitive city.
Director BITS, Hyderabad Prof. G. Sundar, IIT Mumbai’s Prof. Avijit Maji, Additional DG Women Safety Shikha Goel, Addl DG CID Mahesh Bhagwat, ADB India representative Kaushal Kumar Sahu and others participated in the workshop, said a press release.
