Panchkula MC to install panic button at bus shelters

Sanjay Bumbroo

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Tribune News Service

Panchkula, September 8

In a first-of-its-kind initiative, the Panchkula Municipal Corporation (MC) has decided to install a panic alarm system at bus queue shelters to help women or elderly in distress.

The MC has decided to start it as a pilot project, which will act as a third line of defence for women. In the first phase, these alarms would be set up at 20 state-of-the-art bus queue shelters, which will be come up by December-end.

Giving details MC Commissioner Rajesh Jogpal said the alarm system would be directly connected with the control room of the Sector 14 police station through an optical fibre, which had already been laid in the city. He said as soon as a woman or elderly person in distress pushed the button, a signal would be sent to the control room, which would further send a message to crime patrol vans stationed at various locations in the city. He said this would help check the crime rate in the city during late night hours.

Jogpal said they had also decided to install panic alarm button in several parks to help elderly in case of an emergency. He said they had planned to install three panic alarm buttons in each school and factory, which could be used for seeking help in case of medical emergency, fire incident or other emergency. These would be red, green and yellow.

Jogpal further said eight roundabouts were being spruced up and the civic body had decided to set up 20 bus queue shelters. Toilets will also be constructed around these. Each bus shelter will be constructed at a cost of Rs 4.5 lakh while Rs 3.75 lakh will be spent on each toilet. Jogpal said these bus shelters would also help generate revenue as the MC would be able to earn around Rs 6 lakh through advertisements, helping them recover the project cost within 18 months.

He said besides sprucing up roundabouts at a cost of Rs 2.4 crore, they had also decided to construct slip roads to end traffic chaos. Four CCTV cameras would also be installed at each roundabout.