In distress? Don’t panic, press button

Sanjay Bumbroo
Tribune News Service
Panchkula, October 17

Panchkula has become the first city in the country to test the concept of wireless panic buttons, installed at bus shelters and other public places for the use of residents to raise the alarm in the event of a distress situation and seek immediate help.

The MC went live with the trial of the panic button alarm system, which has been put in place at bus shelters, public parks and commercial shopping centres in Sector 10 and 15 as well two locations in the Industrial Area, Phase 2, Panchkula. The system, which will be on a trial for a month, was launched jointly by Panchkula Municipal Administrator Rajesh Jogpal and Deputy Commissioner of Police Abhishek Jorwal at the Police Control Room.

Giving details, Jogpal said the alarm system was directly connected to the police, fire and ambulance control rooms. It sends real time alerts and notifications to the responder teams in the control room with a dedicated live dashboard that not only reports the live locations of the alarm but also auto-calculates the response time taken by the control room team to respond.

Jogpal said the teams in the control rooms of the three departments underwent extensive “responder training” with several mock drills and were now fully equipped with the requisite knowledge and technology to respond to the distress alarm pressed anytime by residents.

Speaking on the occasion, DCP Abhishek Jorwal stressed the need for equipping the city with robust alarm security and surveillance systems to administer and control the crime rate in the city. The system would be be observed and tested for further enhancements and improvisations, he said.

The MC has partnered with Mutelcor GmbH (German technology consulting company), having presence in several countries, to execute the “proof of the concept trial”. The panic button solution is based on the “LoRa technology”, widely used in smart cities and industrial applications. The wireless panic buttons have been designed and developed in Germany and are already functional in several countries in Europe.

Business Development Head Shweta Moudgil, along with Managing Director, Mutelcor GmbH, YK Gauba, presented the panic button technology concept to the stakeholders and apprised them of the milestones achieved and enhancements in store to make the trial and future implementation of the panic button concept a success, making Panchkula the first city in the country to adopt the state-of-the-art LoRa-based security system.

How it functions

The alarm system is directly connected to the police, fire and ambulance control rooms. It sends real time alerts and notifications to the responder teams in the control room with a dedicated live dashboard that not only reports the live locations of the alarm but also auto-calculates the response time taken by the control room team to respond.