Efkon India

Varanasi Smart City Project

Varanasi, a city of cultural and spiritual beliefs situated on the banks of the River Ganga, is popularly termed as the City of Music by UNESCO. The city is known worldwide for its ghats, embankments along the river bank, where pilgrims perform ritual ablutions. It is also known as Benares, Banaras, and Kashi.
Several bodies govern Varanasi, the most important being the Varanasi Nagar Nigam (Municipal Corporation), which is responsible for the master planning of the city. The Varanasi Smart City Limited (VSCL) is responsible for executing the Smart City Mission (SCM) in Varanasi, led by the Divisional Commissioner of Varanasi Division of UP, and works closely with the Municipal Corporation of Varanasi with the objective to achieve success in the implementation of the Smart City Mission for Varanasi.
The vision statement of VSCL is – “To rejuvenate the oldest Indian living city of Varanasi as a great place to live and visit by conserving and showcasing its enriched heritage, culture, spirituality, and traditions through innovative social and financial inclusion solutions.”
EFKON Strabag was designated as the Master System Integrator (MSI) for developing, implementing, and regulating several smart projects in Varanasi. These included Intelligent Transport Management Systems, City Surveillance Systems, Control Center Systems, Spot Speed Detection Systems, Red Light Violation Detection, Data Centers with Smart Governance and Network, and Variable Message Signboards across the city.
The aim was to ensure optimum and efficient delivery of public services to the citizens and visitors of Varanasi through the turnkey deployment of Smart traffic management, and advanced ICT enabled security solutions. The Kashi Integrated Command and Control Center (KICCC) would be built to provide a comprehensive system for planning, optimizing resources, and responding to the standard functions of the concerned authorities. With a view of enabling varied and respective stakeholders to operate specified Smart City components, it is proposed to build an Operation Center, housed inside the KICCC, which will cater to the city operations, city surveillance, and helpdesk in an integrated manner.

Objectives of the Project

  • Building a centralized Command and Control system to monitor and control PAN city operations.
  • Implementing and maintaining a dedicated city-wide video surveillance system to aid the city administrators.
  • Protecting the citizens and ensuring public safety to effectively fight threats from activities like vandalism, burglary, violence, and all other forms of crimes.
  • Establishing a smart city environment to manage devices for accident detection, traffic congestion, pollution, adverse weather conditions, etc.
  • Citizen-friendly cost-effective governance, improved administrative efficiency, access to public properties.
  • Pilgrim and tourist’s facilitation.

EFKON India provided services like city and traffic surveillance on

21
Adaptive Traffic Control System (ATCS)
2535
Surveillance Camera (PTZ + Fix Camera)
307
Enforcement Camera (RLVD + ANPR (No Helmet/ Stop Line/ Tripple Riding/ No Parking/ Wrong Entry)
8
Speed Violation Detection System
18
Face Recognition System (FRS)
13
Variable Message Display (VMD) Board
55
Public Announcement System (PAS)
15
Environmental Sensor (EVS) System
2
Advanced Command & Control Centre

Benefits to the citizens

Managing and monitoring of various Varanasi locations from a central command control centre.
Better operational efficiency through automated solutions leading to better and enhanced traffic management.
Facilitate cross-department collaboration with the help of online systems in compliance with various standard operating procedures will bring transparency in city administration.
Lowering the costs by adopting a centralized architecture, enabling the platform to be administered and supported from one location.
Improved Administrative Efficiency
Effective decision-making based on data.

Benefits to the Government

Reduction in traffic delays and optimized cycle times through real-time traffic monitoring and enforcement systems.
Improved safety with 24*7 coverage at junctions, reducing unlawful activities and preventing accidents.
Enhanced air quality through live monitoring of AQI and harmful gases.
Timely dissemination of incident messages and citizen advisories via various platforms.
Improved citizen response and safety commitment through surveillance and prompt resolution of public issues.
Enhanced road safety through continuous monitoring of road conditions and potholes.