Sri Lanka goes High-Tech

[saraprobe]

CHENNAI: Though the decades-long military conflict with the LTTE is over and most of the outfit's leaders eliminated, the Sri Lankan government is apparently not taking any chances and has hired a Chennai-based firm to strengthen its surveillance network, Times of India reported yesterday.

Barnas International Private Limited, which has bagged a 30 million Sri Lankan rupee contract to provide surveillance solutions for Colombo, and it will also take up similar projects in the island's northern regions which were recently liberated from LTTE control, company sources told the newspaper.

Under the project, the entire Sri Lankan coast will come under a specially designed surveillance network with sophisticated thermal-imaging cameras and software that can detect the nature of a moving object.

"Thermal-imaging cameras, unlike conventional ones, are so powerful they can pick up images from distances as much as 20 km into the sea. Specially designed software will analyze the nature of the images and sound out an alarm in the central control centre when a boat or ship approaches the coast," said Sivaji Rao, the company vice-president who is in charge of the Sri Lankan operations.

Mr. Rao said the Sri Lankan government had realized the difficulty of monitoring the entire coast manually and gone in for an unmanned surveillance system adding that government was worried about the security situation and had embarked on the project of placing its surveillance systems on a war footing.

“Apart from providing coastal security, all sensitive areas will be brought under strict surveillance under the project. We are not using conventional cameras and digital video recorders here but are using highly sophisticated and specially-designed equipment and software. The cameras will be internet-enabled and can be monitored by senior officials even when they are on the move through cell phones and laptops," Sivaji Rao added.

The company will also be taking up similar projects in the war-ravaged North which has been liberated from the Tigers.

The sources said the Sri Lankan government was still not ready to rule out a possible comeback by the LTTE and was keen on nipping any extremist activities in the bud.

They said Barnas International had sent a similar proposal to the Tamil Nadu government with regard to the surveillance of its coastal areas but no decision had so far been taken. (Times of India)