Cams installed prior to C'wealth Games just monitor traffic

The cameras installed in the city before the commonwealth games are not CCTV cameras, a senior official from Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) said.

The cameras, in fact, are traffic monitoring cameras that were programmed to capture pictures and record footage during a traffic violation.

Not the right one for the job: A camera placed atop a traffic signal at Gajanan Maharaj Chowk in Sahakar Nagar. File Pic

At present, most of the 120 traffic monitoring cameras are non-operational due to over loading as they have captured footage of 14 lakh violations since their installation before the games.

These include the four cameras that were installed at the Balgandharva Chowk where one of the four low intensity blasts took place.

"These cameras cannot serve the purpose of a CCTV. There is major difference between a CCTV cam and a traffic monitoring camera. While a CCTV camera records all the activities in a specified area for 24 hours, a traffic monitoring cameras captures or records when anyone violates traffic rules.

Traffic monitoring cameras in the city have Pan, Tilt and Zoom (PTZ) system.," the official said. "They move to capture traffic violations and during that time it may miss other suspicious activity.

Focus of the camera is for traffic monitoring and not for security purposes."The PMC officials had proposed to appoint a special agency that will trace traffic violators through these cameras, and penalise them. Agency fee and maintenance charges of equipments were to be paid from the money collected through fines and the remaining amount would be spent on traffic management in the city. But the Standing Committee rejected PMC's proposal twice.

"We have made a special proposal for this kind of traffic intelligent system, which requires no funding. The PMC should appoint an agency for collecting funds. It can help curb traffic violations," Shripad Pophale, Intelligence Traffic System (ITS)engineer for Pune Municipal Corporation, said.

DCP (Traffic) Vishwas Pandhare said the ITS should be run by an independent agency. "Every day, thousands of challans will be generated. It is lengthy process to trace the vehicle, send a challan by post and collect the fine. This requires manpower. Currently, we are facing manpower issues. If this system is executed properly, it will help improve traffic in the city."u00a0