“Mumbai police now have a CCTV command centre better than the command centres of Israel and London police departments,” said chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday morning, after inaugurating the new Mumbai police commissioner’s office building, which houses the CCTV command centre and main police control room on the fifth floor.
The new, 9,500 sq ft police control room will now have 66 telecom operators, who attend to calls on the number 100. The old police control room of 2,000 sq ft had 25 call takers.
The new building also houses important police departments and offices of the joint commissioner of police (administration), crime branch special cells, economic offences wing units, and citizens’ facilitation centre.
There is also a social media lab, as well as other facilities for police personnel, such as a cafeteria and a gymnasium.
At the inauguration, Fadnavis said the new premises will boost the efficiency of the police department.
“It will help the police provide better service to the citizens, thus restoring their faith in the police department,” he said.
Before inaugurating the commissioner’s office building, the CM inaugurated the new police service quarters in Worli.
He said, “The police quarters are in bad condition. Some of the buildings look like the British used them to keep inmates in. The issue of housing for police personnel has always been ignored. I believe we need to bring it to the top of our agenda,” Fadnavis said.
He asked ACS (home) KP Bakshi and DGP (housing) Satish Mathur to plan housing projects in which policemen can get permanent residences.
“New housing projects can have 50% service quarters and 50% permanent police quarters. All concessions or help required from the government, including extra FSI, will be given,” Fadnavis said.
He said that solving the housing problem of police personnel will boost their efficiency.
The six-storey building was constructed in five years at a cost of Rs65 crore.
The foundation stone-laying ceremony for the new building was performed in 2002. It was in 2011 that the the contractor began construction work on it. The building began functioning completely in December.
