SMARTLY BRIDGING DISTANCES DURING THE TIMES OF COVID-19

As soon as movement started to get restricted due to the lockdown and State governments, civic and police authorities started realizing that the only way to stay connected to monitor, communicate and control COVID-19 related operations was going digital, the pressure on Smart World & Communications (SW&C) teams across cities pan-India mounted to quickly connect cities with their smart solutions. While the lockdown drove most of the country into the safety of their homes, SW&C teams were forced out into their workstations at all hours of the day and night to keep things ticking
over 24×7.

The fight being fought from war rooms

Almost overnight, Command & Control Centres and City Operation Centres across cities were converted into War Rooms to became base of operations for the authorities. “The first task was to complete the conversion but the bigger one was to ensure that they functioned seamlessly, without hassles 24×7,” shares Project Manager – Raipur Smart City, Santosh Kumar Potnuru, who’s working hours have stretched way beyond the normal. His primary responsibility was the safety and wellbeing of his team of 70 who were risking their lives every day.

Apart from procuring special passes for travel during the lockdown every other precaution was taken to stay safe – using separate vehicles, donning face masks and gloves, keeping social distance at the workplace and the like. “As the situation evolved, our customer’s requirements kept changing so we had to constantly think on our feet, have frequent meetings that were unavoidable and deliver. Thus far, there have been no escalations,” smiles a relieved Santosh.

Over at the Nagpur Smart City project, Senior Engineer, Priyanka Debnath is feeling the heat running two 12-hour shifts to cover a range of critical activities in the War Room like managing public announcements, monitoring VMDs & CCTVs and cyber security checking all IT systems. “With almost all the top bureaucrats in the War Room, we couldn’t afford to let up even for a moment,” she remarks, citing an incident that was resolved at 1 am. Though equally stressed, Assistant Manager – Field & O&M, Farman Ali is more at peace with himself at the Pune Smart City project where by extending Wifi coverage to isolation and quarantine centres, “we were able to give the patients a feel-good experience of being remotely in touch with their loved ones while recovering.” 

“We have to monitor 124 viewing centres, facilitate helpdesk activities, manage DIAL 100 transactions and several other vital functions,” says Project Manager – Mumbai City Surveillance project, T S Senthil Kumar from the hottest of hot zones. “We had to realign cameras in containment zones with video analytics, deploy ANPR cameras to monitor vehicle count, enhance viewing centres including one in the CM’s bungalow and set up 34 cameras in a temporarily converted COVID-19 hospital and integrate them into our network. Each task was full of risk, but we stuck to our guns and delivered safely.”

Even as people like Senthil Kumar, Priyanka, Farman and a host of others are focused on delivering smart solutions, they have to be constantly aware of taking all precautionary measures to keep themselves safe and healthy.

Charting a safe mission

“Apart from providing technical support round the clock across the control centres, a critical task was to source and provide adequate number of PPEs to safeguard our warriors,” points out D.P. Shinde, Head – Safety & Quality. Taking on the responsibility, the EHS Department adopted a centralized process to source the PPEs by standardizing procurement and directly despatching to sites. The team prepared a Biological Waste Management Plan too that was followed at all sites. Based on the local conditions, sites adopted various sustainable approaches to dispose off the used PPEs by tying up with waste management agencies and hospitals as per government guidelines.

Elaborating on his safety mission, D.P. Shinde says, “Within days, we had worked out a comprehensive safety charter covering hazard identification, environmental assessment, impact and significance register which was quickly shared with project teams to plan control measures in line with identified risks and impact there of.” A pep-talk document based on the SOP was shared across sites to standardize cascading to workmen and technicians.

Digitalization lends a smart edge

When physical interaction is not advisable except when unavoidable, digital solutions can win the day as
D.P. Shinde found to his delight. “All key safety documents were uploaded into ‘ViewEHS’ and made available to all as a ready reckoner. At the same time, various online inspection checklists and forms were available on digital dashboards to monitor the frequency of inspections, safety training conducted, workmen inductions, compliances and even aspects like whether proper disinfections and fumigations were done at sites.” All EHS meetings and reviews were in the virtual mode and as D.P. Shinde adds, “All our good work enabled site teams to evolve their own Emergency Response Plans, do mock drills, conduct simulation exercises and be prepared for any unlikely situation.”

Well-armed to repair smart meters

A desperate call from the client turned Project Manager – ESSL AMI Solution Smart Meters Project, Rajveer Singh Shekhawat’s lockdown upside down as 8,000 smart meters were malfunctioning that could not be fixed remotely. With a team of 40, he set about attacking close to 2,900 households in Gurugram. “We had to be doubly careful entering various housing societies and houses, but we were always fully armed,” he pumps a fist. And armed they were with face masks, face shields, gloves, helmets, safety shoes and reflective jackets or aprons. “We negotiated all the risks and completed the task without a single positive case but it took a lot of doing,” he admits with a nod, “a lot of morale boosting and pep-talking,” he smiles. While Rajveer had the relative comfort of being at ground zero to manage the situation, Manager – O&M, Anurag Bhargava was stuck in a containment zone, away from his team as they attended to complaints of faulty meters. “Managing 9 teams of around 100 members largely from the O&M agencies across
12 towns was a huge task but we managed.” He almost throws his hands up in triumph.

The leaders of several state governments, municipalities and police departments have commended the sterling effort of the SW&C personnel. Although the country is slowly unlocking, the pressure on D.P. Shinde and his EHS teams will remain to keep their people safe even as we learn to live with the pandemic.