Honeywell has been selected to lead the Bengaluru Safe City project under the Nirbhaya Fund by the Government of India’s Ministry of Home Affairs. The project aims to create a safe, secure and empowering environment for women and girls in public places to enable them to pursue all opportunities without the threat of gender-based violence or harassment. The Bengaluru Safe City project is valued at $67 million USD.

India has become known as the most dangerous country for women. More than 400,000 crimes against women, including 87 rapes a day, were registered across India in 2019. National crime records show approximately 40 percent of female reported rape victims were minors and 95 percent knew the rapist.

Honeywell will create an integrated command and control center to manage a state-of-the-art video system that features more than 7,000 video cameras deployed at more than 3,000 locations across the city. The video system will provide advanced video analytics, including facial recognition, a “Dial 100” application, and drones. Honeywell will also upgrade the city police department’s existing Suraksha app to help improve incident response rate and citizen engagement.

Bengaluru is among eight cities selected for India’s Safe City project, which involves identification of hot spots for crimes against women and deployment of various components, including infrastructure, technology adoption, and capacity building in community through awareness programs.

“Globally, Honeywell helps develop future-ready cities with its wide portfolio of smart city offerings, including a focus on connected safety and security technology,” said Matthew Britt, Smart Cities general manager, Honeywell Building Technologies. “Our technology-led integrator approach combined with our global expertise in delivering complex integrated solutions can help city administrators make informed decisions and improve safety for citizens in near real time, with the goal of turning Bengaluru into a city that’s safer, smarter and more resilient.”

The Bengaluru Safe City project will be implemented in phases. Honeywell will operate and maintain the security infrastructure for five years.

Honeywell’s smart city systems connect more than 100,000 IoT sensors and touch the lives of more than 100 million people. The company’s solutions help create actionable insights that city authorities and municipalities can use to improve their situational awareness, economic development and quality of life for residents.