Revamped at the cost of Rs15 crores and still left unguarded, has been the fate of Birsa Munda bus terminal at Khadgarha, but not for long now. Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) has invited tenders for supply, installation, commissioning and testing of close circuit television cameras at the terminus for a period of three years.

RMC has marked 60 probable points all over the terminal for installing 35 CCTV cameras. Additionally, 16 horn speakers for addressing passengers, bus drivers and attendants and three lED display boards for displaying the schedule of buses will also be installed at the bus stand as part of a public announcement system.

The CCTV cameras will include pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) cameras, button cameras and dome cameras. The selected bidder will have to set up a control room at the terminus with arrangements for storage backup for 30 days, along with providing for remote viewing of the captured footage on display screens at RMC offices.

To make sure that the installed cameras do not fall prey to vandalism, the urban local body has stipulated that the cameras will have to be equipped with tampering alarm, which will alert the monitoring staff in case the cameras are damaged, painted over or removed without authorisation. The cameras will also have night vision monitored capabilities.

Apart from the security angle, the CCTV cameras might also prove helpful in inculcating some civic sense in the passengers and drivers, opined the bus agents who run their business at Khadgarha bus stand.

“Primarily, the cameras will be a great help in keeping at bay the minor criminal incidents or law and order infringements at the bus stand. But they can also be used to keep an eye on those who litter here. Bus drivers who park here to stay for the night often dump trash from their vehicles in the terminal premises. Knowing that they are being watched, might induce a sense of consciousness in them,” stated Mohammed Jawed, a bus agent from the bus stand.

Even Chief Minister Raghubar Das had instructed the officials in his address on the inauguration ceremony of the bus terminal to exact fines to the tune to Rs500 from those who as much as spit in the terminus premises to keep the state’s first international level bus stand spanking clean.

RMC has also recently invited proposals from registered security agencies for appointing 10 guards and a supervisor to oversee the security arrangements at the Khadgarha bus stand.