The city police have installed several electrical equipments to curb crime in the city, but more than half of the CCTV cameras installed at many spots in the city don’t work due to lack of maintenance.
According to official data of Chandigarh police, total 216 CCTV cameras have been installed in Chandigarh so far. Out of the 216 cameras, 12 cameras have been removed by the police as they failed to record. Meanwhile, only 99 cameras are working and 117 are lying defective. Of the 38 cameras installed at Sector 17 and 22 markets, 18 are defective. Of the 14 cameras installed in the market area of Sector 35, eight don’t record properly and of the 64 cameras installed at outer barriers of the city, 16 are not working, while 12 defective cameras have been removed.
If we take a look at some of the recent criminal activity, that took place in the city, many could have been averted or the criminal might have been caught if the cameras would have been working properly by recording good quality images. The hit and run case, which was recorded few days back in the city, when a 23 years old girl was mowed down by a speeding vehicle, after which she lost her life, is now lying in a limbo as the police has failed to get any lead from the CCTV recordings given to their poor image recording quality.
On the other hand, Inspector General of Police R P Upadhyay, indulging in buck passing, said that the problem had occurred due to a dispute between UT Engineering Department and the company which had installed a majority of the cameras in the city. A letter has been forwarded by our Department to the UT Finance Secretary and the UT Chief Engineer asking them to resolve the dispute.
A survey for new locations has also been conducted by Police Department to install more cameras on several light points in the city, keeping in mind the traffic and the crime that might take place at these spots, added the IGP. A total of 660 new CCTV cameras will be installed all over the city. The total number of cameras will have devices with night vision for clear recording at the night.