Hyderabad: Taking a decision to not just rely on police patrolling to keep their neighbourhoods safe, residents in Chilkalguda and Musheerabad have voluntarily set up CCTV cameras across their colonies as a part of the Safe and Smart Hyderabad project. As a result, Chilkalguda and Musheerabad became the first areas to implement the project in the city.
Moreover, the residents will be setting up monitoring rooms, from where one of them (not cops) would monitor the camera feeds. The residents have covered the lanes, by lanes and all colony corners. However, the city police also want the residents to set up high definition cameras and save the recordings for up to 30 days. Each such camera costs between Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000.
Mohd Khaleed, a Musheerabad resident, said that so far, seven cameras have been set up at Musheerabad and 12 at Chilkalguda. There are proposals from the resident welfare associations of Tarnaka-Nagarjuna-nagar and Gokulnagar, near old dairy farm. At most of these areas, high-definition cameras costing between Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000 have been installed. These cameras can be connected to a television set or a desktop computer. There is also an application to monitor the feeds on a smartphone.
“Recently, there was a communal clash at the Osmania University. The cops were able to identify the accused with the help of the CCTV footage in that case. Chilkalguda is one of the crime-prone areas. Currently, 12 cameras have been set up, however, 50 of them are needed to cover the entire area. The cameras will be set up near open plots, worship places, apartment and dead ends. The resident would decide on the location of installation. Local police officials have been informed,” said a member of the Chilkalguda RWA.
At present, the police to people ratio in the city is 1:1,300. City police too has started sensitisation meetings on Public Safety Act with businessmen and representatives of colonies. The cops educate residents on the need to install CCTV cameras and metal detectors at necessary places.
