Mumbai: 50,000 CCTV cameras installed in private premises in 2 months

As an ambitious government project to get over 12000 CCTV cameras for Mumbai crawls through an atrophied bureaucracy city police chief Param Bir Singh has managed to push private establishments including housing societies to install the digital eyes on their premises In the past two months these entities have added 50000 CCTV cameras Following the 2611 terror attack the government had drawn up a blueprint to improve surveillance in the city at a cost of about Rs 1000 croreIn his order police chief Param Bir Singh said CCTV cameras will help the cops in surveillance and easy detection of street crimesUnder the first phase of the project 5300 cameras were installed by 2016 The government is now in the last leg of launching another 7000 cameras Towards the end of 2020 Singh issued an order saying it was mandatory for housing societies malls religious places petrol pumps banks ATMs shopping complexes educational institutions and multiplexes to cover their outer area with CCTV cameras He said the cameras will help the police detect and curb street crimesThe police commissioner said it was mandatory for these private establishments to have the surveillance devices on their premises under section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code and noncompliance could invite action However officers said there was no need for them to punish anyoneldquoThe response is very positive Within two months more than 50000 cameras have been installed across the city apart from the existing CCTV surveillancerdquo said Vishwas Nangre Patil joint commissioner of police law and order ldquoWe are aiming at around 3 lakh additional cameras which will cover the entire nook and corner of the city The crime rate will go down drastically once the system is functionalrdquo he addedLocal police stations are now trying to have access to the feeds in their respective areasDriving home their point police sources said they found that some of the housing societies near Mukesh Ambanirsquos home have not covered their outer area Had there been CCTV cameras they might have thrown some clue to the incident of explosives found in an abandoned SUV near the industrialistrsquos homeLocal police stations are now trying to have access to the feeds in their respective areasldquoMostly we will take the footage of private cameras post an incident but at some specific locations we will try to take the live feed covering the outer areasrdquo said an officerMahendra Hemdev a member of the Marine Drive Residents Association welcomed the move ldquoCCTV cameras are proving extremely valuable in preventing and solving crimes However live feed from society cameras should be available to police Many societies are reluctant to share their footage not realising the importance of public safetyrdquo said Hemdev who recently met Singh and Patil and pushed for more cameras in the cityldquoIt is a good move by the police and going to help citizens only We already had CCTV cameras covering the outer area but after the police order we have installed them at other locations as wellrdquo Said Ashok Patel president of the fort Merchant welfare association Zaveri Bazaar which has borne the brunt of scores of crimes and terror attacks has got many digital eyes on its precinctldquoThis is a big jewellery market and criminals have always targeted this place It has also witnessed serial blasts There are more than 3000 shops along its narrow lanes While most shops have CCTV cameras to cover the area in the front others have also complied after the order from the police commissionerrdquo said Kumar Jain the president of India Bullions and Jewellers AssociationRs 1k CRCost of govt project to install CCTV cameras3LCity police target for private CCTV cameras