Govt's CCTV project set to miss deadline

Barely a week after July 10 bombing, cops tell mid-day that the plan of having cameras in 438 locations across the city by Independence Day will not materialise

While terrorists have been zealously attacking the city, government projects to thwart them have been moving at a snail’s pace.

The government’s ambitious project of installing a CCTV camera network across the city to prevent untoward incidents and, failing that, to nab the perpetrators, is almost certain to miss its deadline. 438 locations had been shortlisted for the placement of cameras by August 15 this year, but not one location has a camera so far.

The police, meanwhile, are helplessly waiting for the cameras to be up and running so that they can monitor sensitive locations. In a review meeting conducted by the Police Commissioner Satish Mathur yesterday, officials from Allied Digital Services Limited (ADSL), which is supposed to install the cameras, assured the cops that 132 locations in the Zone 1 jurisdiction of the Pune Police Commissionerate — which includes the Dagdusheth temple, malls, multiplexes and other religious and commercial establishments — will be covered soon.

Additional Commissioner of Police (Administration) Abdur Rehman said, “The company is not performing well and is facing a financial crunch. They had informed us about this problem in a meeting with Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in May 2014. They could not place the purchase orders for cameras, routers and other components for the installation. We have had about 15 coordination meetings with the representatives of all concerned departments.”

Penalised?
The Request for Proposal (RFP) has provisions for penalising the contractor for delays in completing the project. Rehman said the reasons for the delay will be examined and the High Powered Committee (HPC) will take a call in this regard.

Status
As of now, ADSL has erected poles at 73 locations and ordered 20 PTZ (pan-tilt-zoom) and 50 basic cameras. BSNL has provided bandwidth at 111 locations and MSEDCL has given permissions for electricity connections at 47 locations so far.
Company officials have assured the police that the 132 locations under Zone 1 will have cameras by August 15. The cameras will be connected to the command and control centre at the Police Commissionerate Office in Camp.

1,285
The number of cameras that will be placed across the city

Rs 224crore
The cost of the project

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