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This story is from November 13, 2016

CCTV cameras act as ‘gau rakshaks’ in Haryana villages

arpanch Anju Yadav was inspired by a workshop organised by the Faridabad deputy commissioner Chander Shekhar weeks after she was elected in February.
CCTV cameras act as ‘gau rakshaks’ in Haryana villages
Representative image
NEW DELHI: When three buffaloes went missing in Haryana's Macchghar village last month, there was the usual confab about who did it and whether to approach the police. But a look at the CCTV visuals of the village and its perimeter solved the mystery. The buffaloes were seen ambling away to another part of the village where they got mixed up in someone else's herd and were conveniently taken away.
Macchghar sarpanch Naresh Kumar recalls, "The owners confronted the suspects.
The threat of public shame was enough to get the culprits to return the buffaloes."
The buffaloes were back home in no time. Four months ago this would have been unthinkable, says Kumar, adding that this is just one of the many benefits of having 160 cameras covering the village.
Anju Yadav, the 22-year-old sarpanch of neighbouring Chandawali, who was the first to set up 95 cameras in her village this June, says, "Illegal liquor sales has dropped, street sexual harassment, gambling and general public nuisance has stopped. There has been an overall drop in the crime rate. The last few months have brought a lot of change," she says.
Sarpanch Anju Yadav was inspired by a workshop organised by the Faridabad deputy commissioner Chander Shekhar weeks after she was elected in February.
"When DC sir suggested it, I discussed it with my father and we felt that it might help bring down public nuisance and law and order complaints. Police officials also supported our move," Yadav says.
An increasing number of people in rural India, especially in the more prosperous states, are adopting electronic surveillance systems. Security company owner Baldev Kumar Choudhury, who set up surveillance systems in Chandawali and Macchghar, says there is no looking back. "Chandawali was the first village I set up in. But once the villagers saw the benefits, demand increased. I am working in five villages in Faridabad and Palvel district," he says. The response was so overwhelmingly positive in Chandawali that within a month, in July, Macchghar also decided to install cameras.

Villages in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Punjab are not far behind Haryana. Bharoda, about 23km from Anand in Gujarat, started CCTV surveillance in April with 95 Wi-Fi-enabled cameras through a fibre optic network. Aided by funding from non-resident Gujaratis, the villagers will soon be able to video-chat with their families abroad on their mobile phones through apps. Punsari, 80km from Gandhinagar, also got surveillance equipment in January along with toilets in every home, as has Nargol, a seaside village in Valsad district bordering Gujarat and Maharashtra.
Cost of setting up a CCTV surveillance system range from Rs 12 lakh to Rs 20 lakh depending on the number of cameras and the extent of the network. Choudhury has also connected the cameras to solar panels to overcome the problem of erratic power supply, which has helped cut costs. But money is not really a factor for these villages. As Faridabad deputy commissioner Chander Shekhar points out, "The villages in Haryana are very prosperous. They have large SUVs, palatial homes... They have earned big bucks from land acquisition by realtors. I felt that the panchayat money would be put to good use if they could install CCTVs."
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