A ‘silver lining’ has finally appeared on the horizon for the security establishment, which was racing against time to implement a Delhi-wide surveillance project stuck in the pipeline for more than half a decade.
Over 3,000 closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras, based on a prototype approved back in 2008 post the serial blasts of that year, have finally found their way to the Delhi Police for installation across the Capital. This will help in widening the reach of their electronic vision one day at a time.
“We are procuring these in small batches from a prominent public sector undertaking (PSU) almost daily and getting them installed at sensitive locations over every successive weekend,” said a police source.
According to a senior police officer associated with the project, the first phase of installation of the new cameras has already begun in Central Delhi. CCTV cameras connected to the local police control room have begun appearing near the North Block in addition to the commercial enclaves of Connaught Place, Bengali Market and Khan Market.
While the police aim to bring areas around several schools, residential locations in New Delhi district under surveillance on priority, it plans to replicate its CCTV Dariba Kalan Project — under which 32 cameras were installed across Chandni Chowk in accordance with its Business Area Watch Scheme (BAWS) — at market places.
The project aims to bring more markets and borders across the Capital under surveillance at the earliest, according to officials privy to its implementation.
Long before the Delhi Police were asked to seek inspiration from the ‘Surat Model’ of surveillance after Narendra Modi took over as Prime Minister, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had sanctioned the project based on the recommendations of a Cabinet Committee post the 2008 blasts. Around 5,500 CCTV cameras were to be installed at 58 city markets and 27 border posts by March 31, 2010, in a phased manner. Its projected cost was Rs.380 crore.
The initiative, however, had missed deadline after deadline and was crippled, according to insiders, due to an acute shortage of vendors so much so that the police could install just 3,091 cameras at just 27 markets and around eight border check posts — less than half its aim — till the end of 2013.
“Our deadline this time is March 31, 2015, and we hope to get the project out of the way so that further expansion of the surveillance apparatus can be planned,” an officer said.
