Mysore Palace CCTVs to go up to 128

Mysore: Concerned by the National Security Guard’s(NSG) claim that the Mysore Palace is high on the hit list of terrorists, the  palace board has intensified its security , opting for sophisticated high resolution CCTV cameras in its corridors and grounds and upping their number from 15 to 128.

The new 113 cameras  bought at a cost of Rs 8 crore using part of the  funds released by the state government on the palace’s 100th year anniversary, are  equipped with software that can alert the authorities to any known terrorist or habitual offender seen in its grounds.

While boom barriers are being installed at the gates of the palace, other sections will have in place fixed cameras, thermal cameras and high resolution CTZ cameras which can capture images upto a distance of 1.5kms to 2km.   Even the lesser sophisticated cameras can capture images upto  500 meters away, add sources.

With data of terror suspects and habitual offenders  uploaded in the cameras they can alert the palace  authorities on spotting them in its vicinity, they reveal.

Cables are being laid over 5000 kms for installing the cameras and engineers on the job are  surprised at the ducts already in place in the grounds as this shows tremendous foresight by those who designed the Mysore palace several decades ago.

“We did not have to make any fresh provisions and used  the existing ducts for the cables needed for the cameras,” said a Palace Board engineer.

The cameras are being installed in locations suggested by a technical committee comprising Mysore Deputy Commissioner C. Shikha, Mysore city police commissioner  M.A. Saleem, Chief Engineer of CHESCOM,  Shanthi, NIE college professor,  Anantha Padmanabh and JCE College professor  Nagaraj following the visit of the NSG team  to Mysore in April this year.

Currently installed on a  trial basis, the cameras will become fully functional in the next 15 days, according to sources.