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Bijoy Ghosh

A finger on every screen. Chairman Suresh explains how top officials monitor operations.

T.E. Raja Simhan

It is a breathtaking view of Chennai port and the Bay of Bengal from the ninth floor of the Chennai Port Trust chairman’s office. But the chairman, K. Suresh, has his eyes on something else — the huge LCD monitor that relays live images of port operations from cameras at vantage points — to enable him to keep a watchful eye out for any problems.

Gone are the days when the chairman did frequent hops across the port (located on 587 acres) to monitor whether operations are normal, give a quick ‘pep’ talk to workers or sort out labour problems. Today, the chairman happily uses a ‘joy stick’ from his room to monitor the entire port operations.

The Digital Video Surveillance Systems has brought in a ‘sea change’ in Chennai port operations. There is an effective check on incidents such as theft, pilferage and fire, says Suresh.

Today, 30 cameras monitor the entire port operations round-the-clock. “I have a 360-degree view of various departments. Workers are also aware that the chairman and other top officials are continuously monitoring them,” he says.

In February 2006, the Chennai port was the first in the country to have the surveillance system — then costing Rs 45 lakh. Now, other ports too have such systems. The system operates in wireless mode and transmits image signals from the camera to the central control room at the port’s Centenary Building. The system has the compatibility for connecting through the ChPT-owned LAN (local area network) for viewing the images at Chairman and Deputy Chairman’s rooms.

The system comprises 20 fixed focussing cameras. In addition, there are ten 360-degree colour cameras having zoom facility to control the cameras from the central control room. This helps officials to monitor even the smallest problem. The control room has two digital video recorders and nine LCD monitors provided at a cost of Rs 5.57 lakh for viewing the strategic locations continuously.

Illustrating how the system works, Suresh says once there was a fire in the oil terminal following a leak in the pipe. When the incident happened at 8.30 a.m. there was no person in the location to put off the fire. The control room found this and immediately alerted the fire service. “We averted a major catastrophe,” he recalls with relief.

In another case, a ship was ready to berth when the control room noticed that a section of cable was damaged on the edge of the wharf. The officials in the location were immediately alerted for action.

One of the biggest advantages of the system is checking theft of cargo that was rampant at the port. The cameras watching from the skies, as it were, act as a deterrent, with every action captured on the screen. So much so, security persons do not now need to board the vehicles exiting the port for a physical check. The control room has an aerial view of all vehicles entering and exiting the port. Any theft can be noticed immediately, Suresh says.

According to Suresh, when the Tsunami struck the Chennai coast in 2005, the port trust had great difficulty in evacuating workers stranded everywhere. Immediately after the first wave struck the port, all senior officials gathered at the signal station to assess the situation for taking suitable action. It was then a Herculean task.

But now, as part of the surveillance system, the control room is provided with a wireless public address system (set up at a cost of Rs 10.55 lakh) with wireless receivers placed at strategic locations.

Each wireless receiving station is provided with one 300 watt loud speaker to cover the local area.

The control room makes announcements through a wireless set. A walkie-talkie operating of the same frequency is also provided for the use of the Chairman and Deputy Chairman to make various announcements.

For instance, when the port achieves a certain milestone, the information is shared with port workers through the centralised audio system.

Also, any emergency announcement can now be made through this system, says Suresh.

raja@thehindu.co.in

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