People collaborate with Chhattisgarh police for surveillance project in Rajnandgaon

Officials said that the Rajnandgaon district administration and police have come out with 'Trinetra', a project financed by the public.

Rajnandgaon: Residents have joined hands with the authorities to install hi-tech CCTV cameras and set up a control room in Chhattisgarh's Rajnandgaon city for effective enforcement of traffic regulations and public safety, officials said on Monday.

The Rajnandgaon district administration and police have come out with 'Trinetra', a project financed by the public, they said.

Talking to PTI, Rajnandgaon Superintendent of Police Mohit Garg said, "This first-of-its-kind smart city ITMS (intelligent traffic management system) and surveillance project funded by the public."

The official said as many as 385 cameras, including 25 ANPRs (automatic number plate recognition), 300 varifocal cameras, 10 PTZ (pan-tilt-zoom) cameras and fifty '80/50' meter focus cameras, will be installed at entry points and junctions of the city.

The city has a population of around 1.50 lakh, he said.

Under the initiative, the existing 152 cameras, installed with public cooperation and government funds in the past, will also be maintained, he said.

Seven new traffic signal lights have been installed in addition to the repair and maintenance of the three existing signal lights, he said, adding that these signals will be equipped with ANPRs and varifocal cameras to facilitate e-challans.

A modern integrated control room is also being set up in the SP office with a server equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) tools like movement detection and face detection, the official said.

The control room will be integrated with the district control room and '112' (emergency service number) control room for quick emergency response, he said.

The server in the new CCTV control room can cover 1,000 cameras, he said.

As per the initiative, the general public can view the footage only after a first information report (FIR) is registered or with permission from the concerned police station, he said.

Garg, the brainchild behind the project, said local entrepreneurs, social workers, journalists and lawyers agreed to contribute to the initiative, which costs around Rs 1.25 crore.

The SP said the initiative aims to enhance public safety, improve responses to potential law and order issues, and the traffic system with public participation.

The SP said he, along with Rajnandgaon Collector Sanjay Agrawal, chalked out the plan for the project, which was slated to be completed in September.

The project intends to make Rajnandgaon a safe city and enhance policing activities by coordinating with residents, collector Sanjay Agrawal said.

The initiative will be extended to other parts of the district in the next phase, he said, adding that people are also being encouraged to install cameras outside their homes and commercial establishments.