Hyderabad: The construction of the ambitious twin towers to house the Hyderabad Police Commissionerate and the Integrated Control and Command Centre, at Banjara Hills, is taking its own sweet time to complete and it will not be confined to the police.
In tune with the smart city concept, it has been decided that besides the law and order and traffic police, units of other service delivery departments such as the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB), Energy, Transport, Fire Services, Revenue and Disaster Management departments will set up shop in the twin towers and will work alongside the police.
This will be the first time in the country that all service delivery departments will function under one roof.
However, the construction of the iconic project is going on at a snail’s pace. It has already missed three deadlines -- August, October and December 2018.
In all likelihood, it will take another eight to 10 months before it is ready, which is going to see a sharp increase in the cost.
Sources in the know of developments told this newspaper that it was originally proposed that the twin towers of 24 and 18 floors respectively, will be exclusively for the police, but K. Chandrasekhar Rao is understood to have suggested that all key departments should also function from the building.
“The idea is to trigger the response mechanism of other key departments from the same premises which will lead to better delivery of citizen services,” sources said.
The CCTV footage coming in from all parts of the city will be useful in crime control and traffic violations, but will also help to identify problems like bad road conditions on various stretches, water logging, no or poor street lighting, garbage accumulation on roads, fire emergencies and situations which require disaster management.
''This way, the response mechanism of all departments will improve and go a long way in providing better services,'' an official said.
Besides many state-of-the art facilities, the 5.5 lakh square feet of built up space spread over seven acres on Road No 12 Banjara Hills, will have a mega video wall of the entire city, a police museum and a public observation deck.
Offices of some top officials will also be housed in the twin towers.
The construction alone is estimated to cost over Rs 500 crore, and is being executed by the Shapoorji Pallonji group.
