MBMC Launches 'Central School Control Room' to Enhance Student Safety

The Mira Bhayander Municipal Corporation (MBMC) in Thane has introduced a 'Central School Control Room' to monitor CCTV footage in civic schools for student safety. This initiative follows an incident of assault. Inaugurated by Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde, the facility aims to create a secure learning environment.

The Mira Bhayander Municipal Corporation (MBMC) in Maharashtra's Thane district has rolled out a 'Central School Control Room' aimed at enhancing the safety of students through comprehensive CCTV monitoring, officials reported.

This initiative comes in the wake of a disturbing incident in which two four-year-old girls were sexually assaulted by a male attendant in a school washroom in Badlapur last month.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde inaugurated the control room on September 5 via video conferencing. The facility, situated at the Bharat Ratna Lata Mangeshkar Auditorium in Mira Bhayander, leverages advanced technology to oversee CCTV footage from multiple municipal schools.

Municipal Commissioner Sanjay Katkar stated that the control room, equipped with almost 1,000 CCTV cameras and a UPS generator backup, will monitor footage from 200 cameras installed in 36 municipal schools, serving around 10,000 students.

The initiative promises to proactively address security issues, ensuring a safer learning environment for students, staff, and parents. While initially focusing on municipal schools, the program plans to extend to private institutions in the future, as per the release.

During his address, CM Shinde underscored the importance of real-time surveillance in preventing wrongful activities, urging other municipal corporations to adopt this model to improve safety standards in schools statewide.

The chief minister also reiterated the state's dedication to student safety through stringent regulations and the 'Shakti' law, aimed at combating crimes against women and children. He advised schools to perform thorough background checks on staff and install complaint boxes to facilitate grievance reporting.

(With inputs from agencies.)