Aiming at clearing financial hurdles in its bid to enhance women’s security in buses, the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) has sought `103 crore from the Centre’s Nirbhaya Fund to install CCTV cameras in its entire fleet.
“DTC is already facing financial problems to operate the buses. We have already installed CCTV cameras in 200 buses in our pilot project under which three CCTVs have been placed in each bus. We now want CCTV cameras to be installed in our entire fleet in view of women’s safety,” a senior official of DTC said.
DTC’s Chairman and Managing Director Debashree Mukherjee has sent a proposal to the Transport Commissioner seeking release of `103.25 crore from the fund for installation of CCTV cameras in the entire DTC fleet. The corporation had recently installed closed-circuit television cameras in 200 of its buses, as part of a pilot project to enhance security, especially for women passengers. DTC spokesperson RS Minhas confirmed that DTC has sent such a proposal to the Transport Commissioner and sought this amount from the Government.
In her letter to the Delhi Government, Mukherjee said that the then Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram had announced `1,000 crore for Nirbhaya Fund last year. “DTC has urged Delhi Government to take this matter up before the Central Government and help release `103.25 crore from Nirbhaya Fund,” the official said.
In the aftermath of the December 16 gangrape, DTC had also started providing two home guards in buses operating on night services for security purposes. On this day, exactly two years ago, a 23-year-old physiotherapist was brutally gangraped in a moving bus, sparking massive public outrage that made the Government sit up and take notice.