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Mega City Policing to fund 3,200 CCTVs

Last Updated 03 January 2015, 19:41 IST

As Bengaluru expanded, tags such as Smart City and Mega City came along. But, despite terror incidents since 2000, the city has been crying for a better ‘security infrastructure.’

Strangely, paucity of funds has not been the problem. Instead, the police commissionarate has been staring at the issue of unused funds over the last five to six years. 

It was during 2005-06 that the Bengaluru city police commissionerate was included in the Mega City Policing (MCP) concept of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. However, as sources pointed out, due to non-utilisation over the years, the fund was not released this year. It is only after the city police ensured utilisation through an action plan that an amount of Rs 41 crore was released.

The other cities in the MCP concept are Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata and Ahmedabad. The apathetic approach by the police towards fund use was such that a portion of it (approximately 4 crore) was even deposited with the Karnataka State Police Housing Board Corporation. According to sources, even now this fund is with the Housing Board. A sum of Rs 11 crore, which had almost gone back to the Centre, is now retained after much efforts. 

The modernisation of police forces includes procurement of best of the mobility (bullet proof and mine proof vehicles), weaponry, communication system, training and setting up of Forensic Science Laboratory and Finger Printing Bureau.

“One of the biggest hurdles in the MCP concept was that there were not many vendors to supply the gadgets we were looking for, including imported gadgets. Sometimes, a single vendor participated in the tender process and we could not proceed because of rules. Not only Bengaluru, some other cities also faced similar problems,'' said a senior police official.

City Police Commissioner M N Reddi said that under MCP, large scale CCTV cameras will be deployed, not only from the commissionerate side but also from the community at large. “Bengaluru has always figured under the Government of India MCP, which essentially visualises deployment of CCTV cameras. 

There is also a thinking that we need to involve the community in the city and identify a PPP model-based Safe City Project with an ambitious target of deploying 5,000 cameras for public security. This is not all. We will also have back-end control analytic, which will help get a comprehensive and analytical screening of visuals captured,”' Reddi said.

The city police commissionerate has already approached several associations and public sector undertakings, persuading them to participate in the project. The commissionerate plans to form a committee with some industrial leaders being part of it. The panel will run the PPP project and hand over the entire infrastructure to the city police, an officer said.

Out of the Rs 41 crore released, the city police have proposed an action plan to set up 3,200 CCTV cameras, 500 command and control centres, 500 data centres, upgradation of dial 100 centre.

“After the meeting the Chief Minister convened following the Church Street blast, it has been decided to immediately increase the number of CCTV cameras within 8 km periphery of Vidhana Saudha. The police inspectors of at least 15-20 stations have been asked to provide the list, with number of CCTVs required,'' an official said. 


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(Published 03 January 2015, 19:41 IST)

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