App-based security system suspended at Secretariat

The Secretariat, the power centre of the state, witnesses thousands of visitors on a daily basis. To make the campus safe, a new app-based system was introduced where the photo and basic information of the concerned visitor along with the purpose of the visit was fed into a software. Security personnel present at the entrance collected the information and handed over a slip to the visitors which contained a QR code and timings of their visit.

The scheme was introduced on a pilot basis with the software developed by a Bengaluru based company and if it succeeded, the Public Department decided to implement the scheme on a permanent basis, but the scheme has been discontinued. The police personnel have reverted to the practice of entering the details of the persons in a registry.

When the police personnel present at the entrance of the Secretariat was asked, they said, “It takes at least four minutes for taking a photo and registering the details of a person. The Assembly session is about to commence on January 6 and on those days the usage of security system would be highly impossible. Due to practical difficulties the scheme has been discontinued.”

Officials of Public Department clarified that the scheme has not been discontinued and it will be continued after making improvements. “The photo-based security system has been introduced on a pilot basis but there were some practical difficulties like excess timing taken for feeding the information of visitors in the software. Our Secretary has asked the software company to improve on certain aspects in software and the scheme will be implemented after changes in software,” said R Kumar, Under Secretary, Public (Estates) Department.

He also said that at present the visitors are allowed through only a single way and it will not be sufficient if the scheme is implemented permanently.

“We have requested the PWD officials to make additional ways for visitors to enter Secretariat from the front. We are also planning to recruit permanent staff for this scheme so that the information feeding process can be completed quickly,” said Kumar.