Yet, the BMC’s efforts to blend the old with the new received a setback of sorts when experts told senior civic officials that the corporation’s main building near the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus—part of its headquarters that houses offices of the mayor, municipal commissioner and the hall—could not be connected through Wi-Fi as its walls are too thick (at least four feet) for wireless connectivity. The civic headquarters comprises two parts—the annexure (new) building housing offices of various departments and the old building, a British structure built in the Gothic revival style of architecture.
“A test found that the walls (of the old building) are too thick for Wi-Fi connectivity. There will be only wired connections at the old building through LAN,” said Deputy Municipal Commissioner Shrikant Singh, who played a key role in the civic body’s e-governance initiative.
The Wi-Fi project has been in the pipeline for the last two years but was declared technically feasible only recently by the Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which is also the official consultant for the BMC’s e-governance initiative. To go wireless, the civic administration will float tenders for the Rs 10-lakh project—Rs 1,500 per computer—till December.
Singh said the TCS had already submitted the techno-feasibility report. “The civic headquarters, ward offices, zonal offices and four civic hospitals will have the wireless facility in the pilot project,” he said.
Unlike in case of the Pune Municipal Corporation, the BMC will bear the entire cost of the Wi-Fi project with private players only providing services and modems. While the Unwiring Pune project being carried out in partnership with Intel, when completed, will cover 280 sq km and enable people to access Internet through their laptops or personal digital assistants from anywhere without a cable, Mumbaiites will not get this facility, at least initially.
“The Wi-Fi connectivity is aimed at improving services at civic offices and speed up the e-governance initiative. After connecting civic offices and hospitals through Wi-Fi, we may think of extending the facility to citizens,” Singh said.
According to Singh, though all civic offices were connected with the headquarters through LAN, Wi-Fi would provide them with a technological edge. “Officers will not be tied to their desks. They will be able to use their laptops and access Internet even while visiting ward offices or civic headquarters,” said a senior TCS official. Wi-Fi connectivity of 54kbps is available through the LAN server but it will go up to 108kbps—the highest Wi-Fi can achieve—with the new system, according to civic officials.
Around 3,315 civic officials across the city will reap benefits of wireless Internet where passwords will be given to them to access the system, according to Singh. He said the facility would also be extended to medical students and doctors—the only other beneficiaries apart from civic officers—at four civic hospitals: KEM, Nair, Nair Dental and Sion. “The hospital campuses are huge and have a large number of medical students, professors, doctors who can use the provision of wireless service to their benefit,” he said.
Radio trunking on cards
The BMC is also developing its disaster management telecommunication through radio-trunking, a system used to maximise capacity of two-way communication, especially during emergencies. "If a disaster strikes, BMC officials and the disaster control team will be able to keep in touch even when other means of communication like telephone fail. It is a reliable system during a disaster," said Deputy Municipal Commissioner Shrikant Singh. It will also be implemented at all the ward offices and Malabar Hill, Sion Hill and Mazgaon Hill reservoirs.
The BMC, however, is still to decide whether to go for tetra and VHF (Very High Frequency) communication system. While tetra covers an area of five km, VHF can cover an area of up to 25 km.
Autor(en)/Author(s): Shweta Desai
Quelle/Source: Expressindia, 15.10.2007
