HYDERABAD: The CCTV project in the city is confined to ensuring law and order and free traffic flow and is not being put to regular use to offer better civic amenities.
The police department has provided access to CCTV footage to other departments like GHMC, HMWSSB and Secunderabad Cantonment Board.
Problems like badly damaged roads, overflowing garbage bins, leaks in drainage and water pipelines, faulty street- lights can be noticed in the CCTV footage coming from various parts of the city. However, the information is used sparingly by the civic body only during heavy rains or major events like the Ganesh immersion.
The CCTV project is the ‘brain child’ of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao to make Hyderabad safe and secure with good living conditions. The police has planned to instal one lakh CCTV cameras with community participation like involving residential colonies as well as traders and business establishments.
With positive response from colony associations and trader community along with cameras installed by the government on key roads and junctions, the police department is expecting it would easily cross the target.
“Each police station in the capital has been linked with CCTVs installed in its purview, including main roads, colonies and markets. This feed is linked to command control centre in the commissionerates. The footage is being monitored daily and is proving to be key in solving crimes,” an official said.
While the police department is efficiently using the technology, the other departments, which even established separate command control centres, are founding wanting in this aspect.
Techinical requirements like server and back-up facilities as well as the mechanism to escalate problems to concerned wings immediately after noticing them not to forget additional man power to monitor the footage every day have to be taken care and then only this facility could be fully utilised, government sources said.
Forum for Good Governance secretary Padmanabha Reddy felt that GHMC could make use of the latest technology and attend to civic issues.
West Marredpally gets 90 CCTVs
Surveillance in West Maredpally police station limits has increased with installation of 90 CCTVs by SCB and few colony associations on Monday. Hyderabad police commissioner Mahender Reddy and SCB CEO S.V.R. Chandrashekar atten-ded the inaguration function held at a private function hall.
The cost of this project was Rs 60 lakh, out of which SCB gave Rs 25 lakh. These CCTVs will be linked to police central command of Hyderabad police as well as SCB’s which is not fully operational.
According to police officials, the command control centre, not only helps in maintaining law and order, but also gives key information about road conditions, inundation and water logging information among other things.
“Police department and GHMC have a tie-up under which the civic body has been given permission to use the facility to keep track of civic amenities to attend to problems. Also, a smart city project is being worked out where all departments will be given space in command control centre to use the facilities,” an official said.
