CCTVs loved by Scotland Yard to cover Ganesh mandals

Dagdusheth Halwai Ganapati Mandal, cops and Mayor join hands to bring world-class CCTV sets that can zoom in on suspicious people in crowd of thousands; cameras to be installed at strategic spots in area thick with mandals

Imagine an advanced security camera that performs optical zoom in all directions, keeping an eagle eye on all entrances and valuables at the time of Ganeshotsav. A hi-tech CCTV system with such cameras will be a reality in the city this Ganapati festival. Inspired by the CCTVs at the Heathrow Airport in the UK, city-based Ganapati mandals and the police have jointly decided to use the high-end Japanese 16 JVC Professional CCTV sets for more than 15 important Ganapati mandals in the city.

The specialists: Bharat Junnarkar with his technical crew Manish Narvekar
and Mahesh Salokhe, who are installing the CCTVs around Dagdusheth
Mandal;u00a0Pic/Vivek Sabnis

These CCTV sets, which are the favourite monitoring devices of the Scotland Yard, will now form a network in an area thick with Ganapati mandals, in the heart of he city. The system shall benefit Shrimant Dagdusheth Halwai Ganapati Mandal, Akhil Mandai Mandal, Bhau Rangari Ganapati Mandal, Rameshwar Chowk Ganapati Mandal, Shaipar Mitra Mandal, Babu Genu Mandal, Tulshibaug Mitra Mandal, Tambadi Jogeshwari, Nagarkar Talim Mandal and Guruji Talim Mandal, among others.
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The Japanese JVC Professional CCTV,u00a0 several cameras of which will be
installed near over 15 mandals

The control room for the 16 TV networking system shall be built in the Vishrambaugwada police station, next to the Dagdusheth Ganapati Temple in Budhwar Peth, said Ashok Godse, president, Dagdusheth Ganapati Mandal.u00a0
"As our share of the contribution, we have donated Rs 10 lakh for this new foolproof system," he said.

Mayor Mohansingh Rajpal had recently promised to give Rs 10 lakh for the security and CCTV arrangements for the Ganapati mandals from his fund. "I am ready to give my share in the Mayor's fund," he said.

Installation
Bharat Junnarkar, director, Junnarkar Technologies, who is providing the technical expertise for the system, said the networking that will be done for the system shall be permanent and will cover Shaniwarwada, Lal Mahal, Phadke Haud, Sonya Maruti Chowk, Balbaug Chowk, Rameshwar Chowk and Mahatma Phule Vegetable Market areas.

"All the cameras have already arrive in Mumbai after an order was placed with the JVC Distributor in London last week," said Junnarkar. These cameras shall have especially powerful lenses with a recording capacity of 60 days. The installation of these cameras is expected to begin tomorrow.u00a0

These cameras are all-weather-proof, tamper-proof, vandal-proof and have humid fire-water wiper to remove fog from the lenses. "The quality of the picture is almost digital and these can trace any suspect clearly in a mob of some thousands," said Junnarkar.

DCP Dnyeshwar Phadtare (Zone I), who took the initiative for the JVC system, said: "We are all trying this to avoid any eventuality in Pune's famous Ganpati Utsav and hope it shall help us make the festival and the immersion procession on the last day safe and peaceful. With the help of BSNL, we are also installing 2 JVC professional system at the Alaka Talkies Chowk and one at Mandai Mandal soon."

First in india
The JVC Professional CCTV Camera networking is already popular in the world, especially in the US and European countries. Mahesh Suryawanshi, Treasure, Dagdusheth Ganpati Mandal Trust said they were possibly the first in the country to use the system.u00a0 "We are so lucky that the system shall be in Pune even before the Mumbai for surveillance system," said Suryawanshi. "Police Commissioner Meeran Borwankar was insisting on the introduction of the JVC for Ganapati Utsav and we have all taken it seriously."