CCTV project may get further delayed

NASHIK: With less than a year to go for the Kumbh Mela, the closed-circuit television cameras (CCTV) project for the city is likely to get delayed with the consultant scheduled to make a fresh survey next week. The firm has visited Nashik in last November for a survey.
Senior police officials said that based on the survey in November, the high-power committee of the state government for Kumbh, headed by the chief secretary, had approved 630 CCTV cameras at 172 locations in the city in December last year.
As per the decision, 483 were to be fixed cameras, 95 pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) cameras and 52 automated number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras.
The APNR cameras were meant to keep a tab on vehicles entering the city during Kumbh and were to be installed at the entrance points. The fixed and PTZ cameras were meant for law and order management and assist in crime detection in the city, even after the Kumbh Mela.
The state government had sanctioned Rs 40 crore for the installation of the CCTV cameras. The entire bidding process and other procedures for setting up the cameras were to be conducted by the state government.
The tender procedure for the surveillance system was to be completed till February 2014 and the project should have been completed by March 2015. The fresh round of visit by the consultant has raised questions over completion of the project in time for Kumbh Mela.
Nashik police commissioner Kulwant Kumar Sarangal said, "The agency will be coming to Nashik next week. It was up to the agency to conduct the number of surveys for the CCTVs. The city police could only suggest them the locations, where the cameras needed to be installed."
Police sources said the work on the CCTV project not yet initiated, cameras may have to be installed on temporary basis for the mega event. Officials said that installing permanent cameras at this juncture was out of question. Even if temporary cameras were to be installed, the work should begin by December and completed by May so that there was sufficient time for dry runs to test the system for actual application during the Kumbh in August-September next year.
The focus of the police department will be mainly on the river banks where lakhs of people would arrive for the holy dip during the Simhastha Parvani, the auspicious days during the Kumbh for the holy dip. Hence, the maximum number of cameras would be set up on the river banks.
The cameras are also needed to cover the parking lots outside the city limits, the bus stands in the city, the Sadhugram, where the sadhus would be staying during the Kumbh and marching during processions for Shahi Snans on August 29, September 13 and 18, 2015, the Shahi Marg, the route the sadhus take from the Sadhugram to the river banks for the holy dip) and the Nashik Road railway station. ources said if temporary cameras were installed, the city would lose a chance of a permanent cover of CCTV cameras to keep the law and order under check.