T Nagar gets night vision cameras

Chennai: With the festival season around the corner and shoppers all set to flood streets in T. Nagar, the police are also moving to high alert mode by installing scores of surveillance system, which will have night vision ability, in public places at Chennai’s commercial hub.

As many as 69 more cameras are being fixed in major shopping areas like Pondy Bazaar, Panagal Park, Usman Road and Ranganathan Street as part of crime prevention initiative, said P. Saravanan, deputy commissioner of police, T Nagar, when this newspaper contacted him.

All cameras are high definition cameras with night vision ability, the officer pointed out. It may be noted that more than 60 surveillance cameras already cover T Nagar shopping areas. The number will be doubled before Navaratri festival, the official noted.

“Our idea is to provide safe shopping experience for shoppers who reach T Nagar in lakhs before Deepavali,” added Pondy Bazaar inspector G. Vengidesan. Police believe that presence of surveillance cameras itself acts as a deterrent to criminals.

According to sources, for improved visibility, senior city police officials are also in touch with corporation zonal AE to get high powered lights in the area. T Nagar police officials had been pushing for blanket cover by surveillance camera of all major commercials areas such as Vadapalani and Ashok Nagar in their jurisdiction as part of their crime prevention methods.

These areas all together have more than 300 cameras with live feeds linked police stations like K.K. Nagar, Ashok Nagar, Mambalam and Pondy Bazaar. Areas like Ranganathan Street, Arya Gowda Road, Vadapalani and Ashok Pillar have relatively more number of cameras as criminals prefer these junctions to escape after a crime.

“If not their face, we can at least capture their vehicle registration number and track criminals,” another officer noted. In a recent incident, CCTV grab from Arya Gowda Road helped the police to capture a criminal named Nagoor Basha involved in scores of offences.

Ranganathan street, which is less than 500 metre length, has as many as 14 surveillance cameras, police added. “At least 50 surveillance cameras are set up by the public.  But feeds from these cameras are linked to our station control rooms. We keep monitoring those feeds as well,” said the deputy commissioner.