Even as Rains Continue to Pound State, much-touted TSPICCC Found Wanting

Hyderabad: The ultra-modern TS Police Integrated Command and Control Centre (TSPICCC) has failed to serve its very purpose even as the state grapples with the onslaught of heavy rains.

The centre was to be used for monitoring ‘natural calamities’ and initiating remedial measures. Not this time.

It boasted of facilities from where the Chief Minister, chief secretary, DGP and heads of other government departments involved in relief and rescue operations, could monitor the statewide situation. However, municipal minister K.T. Rama Rao, chief secretary Shanti Kumari, DGP Anjani Kumar and other heads of the departments have been monitoring the ground situation from their respective offices, including on Thursday.

According to sources, the infrastructure required to handle emergency situations like rains and heavy traffic jams, is still not ready at TSPICCC.

“Policing, which needs space for storing documents in huge volumes in any wing, is missing,” they said. Only the Hyderabad city police commissionerate has started full-fledged functioning, while the Telangana cyber security bureau is also operating from the building but not on full-scale.

The complex has emergency response systems like dial 100, a multi-agency integrated command control centre and a war room on the seventh floor from where the Chief Minister can oversee disaster relief or emergency operations.

The war room is supposed to act as a disaster and crisis management centre. Although rain has been wreaking havoc for the past one week, and there is a forecast of heavier rains, there was no sign of any operations from the war room or visits by department heads to monitor the situation.

A control room set up in the Secretariat is from where the chief secretary is monitoring the situation while Anjani Kumar is doing so from the flood monitoring centre set up in his office.