Chennai: Ten months after the gruesome murder of 24-year-old Swathi at Nungambakkam railway station, RailTel will begin installation of 16 CCTV cameras for surveillance at the busy station.
According to sources from Southern Railway, RailTel, a public-sector undertaking, has already planned the Video Surveillance System (VSS) for security at Nungambakkam railway station.
As part of the VSS, 16 cameras will be installed at the station, including two PTZ (Pan-Twist-Zoom) cameras and 14 box-type cameras for a 24-hour surveillance.
“The monitoring of Nungambakkam is likely to be done at Mambalam. The other stations will also get cameras, but in a phased manner,” said a senior railway official.
“This work is being carried out on a priority basis and we have begun the survey,” said a RailTel official. According to officials, RailTel has approached the Engineering and Signal & Telcom wings of the Southern Railway for permissions regarding the laying of cables underneath the tracks.
According to sources, RailTel is mulling having a centralised monitoring system for surveillance systems coming up in the division. As part of the VSS, 82 stations in Chennai division will be getting a network of CCTV cameras at a cost of Rs 40 crores.
“At the centralised location, the monitoring will be done across segments – Chennai Beach to Tambaram, Tambaram to Villupuram, MRTS system,” the source said.
RailTel officials added that the work is expected to take about three months, but it is in the initial stages, it is difficult to comment when the installation will be completed.
The work is being carried out with Nirbhaya Fund, from which '500 crores has been allocated for the installation of CCTV cameras at railway stations across India. In Chennai division, Chennai Central, Egmore, Park, Tambaram, Mambalam, Chennai Beach, Moore Market has the CCTV system in place.
“Nungambakkam will become the first station in India to get CCTV cameras from Nirbhaya fund,” the railway official added.
Why delay in CCTV installation?
The CCTV installation across Indian Railways was initially to be carried out by Railway Protection Force (RPF) was later in 2016 transferred to the RailTel, the telecom infrastructure provider PSU.
Despite being handed the work last year, the plan was not laid out, under which 983 stations in India were to get a CCTV surveillance system.
As part of the Video Surveillance System (VSS), Rs 67.74 crore has been allocated to Southern Railway for the installation of cameras at 136 stations, of which 108 are in Tamil Nadu.
In an earlier communication dating in January this year, the official had maintained that tenders have been floated but no agencies have been decided.
“The target date for completion of CCTV installation is 18 months,” said the official then.
Five months since then, the official still maintained that “The tenders for execution have been opened and agencies will be finalised,” and declined to comment when asked which stations have been finalised for phase one of installation, indicating virtually no progress on the project.
As part of the '500 crore project from the Nirbahaya Fund, 344 stations across India have got security surveillance in place, but 983 are yet to get the same.
Twenty stations in Southern Railway, including Chennai Central, Egmore and Tambaram — the main stations that witness a footfall of over a lakh per day — have the system in place.
It may be recalled that on June 28, last year, the Madras HC had directed the state government for the installation of CCTV cameras at important places, including railway stations, after Swathi, a 24-year-old techie, was hacked to death in broad daylight at Nungambakkam station.
