Deputy CM announces Rs 30 crore for buying crime prevention equipment

Deputy Chief Minister and Pune Guardian Minister Ajit Pawar yesterday announced Rs 30 crore for purchasing crime prevention equipment, including CCTV cameras.

He said a seven-member committee comprising top police and state government officials should purchase the equipment within a month's time. Pawar was in the city to take stock of situation after four low-intensity blasts disrupted life on August 1.

Great minds at work: A meeting in progress at the PMC HQ yesterday. the meeting was held by Police Commissioner Gulabrao Pol and was attended by MPs, MLAs, corporators, the mayor and civic chief among others

He seconded Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde's statement that local criminals did not execute the blasts. "I do not agree with Police Commissioner Gulabrao Pol's statement that blasts were mischief played by some local criminals. It's a serious matter," Pawar said.

Later in the day, Pol held a meeting with all the 30 elected representatives to discuss the upgradation of the CCTV camera network for the city.

"Deputy CM and Guardian Minister will contribute Rs 10 crore and rest of the amount will be raised by the PMC-Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) and through donations from elected MPs MLAs, MLCs and corporators," Rajya Sabha MP Vandana Chavan said.

Present at the meet
Mayor Vaishali Bankar, Standing Committee Chairperson Baburao Chandere, Rajya Sabha MPs Vandana Chavan (NCP) and Prakash Javdekar (BJP), MLA Girish Bapat, Madhuri Misal and Bhimrao Tapkir (BJP) and Chandrakant Mokate (Shiv sena) attended the meeting held at PMC's Shivajinagar headquarters.

"We are ready to provide Intelligent Traffic System (ITC) control room at Swargate Junction for the existing 120 CCTV cameras," Municipal Commissioner Mahesh Pathak said Pathak also expected cooperation from the Traffic Police and the RTO for the project.

"The proposal of setting up a CCTV camera network that was sent to the Home Department by the police can be considered and fresh tenders can be floated," Pathak said.

A part of the said amount will be used to purchase and install 1,000 CCTV cameras in areas that fall under the city police's jurisdiction and the Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial belt.u00a0

Suggestions from politicians
>> Import robot for handling explosives
>>u00a0u00a0Install CCTV cameras at PMPML bus stops and all its buses
>>u00a0u00a0Outsource monitoring of cams to an agency
>>u00a0u00a0Provide solar panels for CCTV cameras in case of power failure
>>u00a0u00a0Upgrade ambulance network in the cityu00a0